Cullen House
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Cullen House is a large house, about south-west of the coastal town of Cullen in
Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...
, Scotland. It was the
seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...
of the Ogilvies of Findlater, who went on to become the Earls of Findlater and Seafield, and it remained in their family until 1982. Building work started on the house in 1600, incorporating some of the stonework of an earlier building on the site. The house has been extended and remodelled several times by prominent architects such as James Adam, John Adam, and
David Bryce David Bryce Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE FRIBA Royal Scottish Academy, RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scotland, Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David B ...
. It has been described by the architectural historian
Charles McKean Charles McKean FRSE FRSA FRHistS FRIBA (16 July 1946 – 29 September 2013) was a Scottish historian, author and scholar. Biography McKean was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 16 July 1946. He was educated at Fettes College, the University of P ...
as "one of the grandest houses in Scotland" and is designated a
Category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) *Category (V ...
. The grounds were enlarged in the 1820s when the entire village of Cullen, save for Cullen Old Church, was demolished to make way for improvements to the grounds by
Ludovick Ogilvy-Grant, 5th Earl of Seafield Lewis Alexander Grant-Ogilvie, 5th Earl of Seafield, FRSE (22 March 1767 – 26 October 1840) was a Scottish nobleman. He is numbered as the 24th Chief of Clan Grant. His promising career was cut short by mental instability. Life He was born L ...
; a new village, closer to the coast, was constructed for the inhabitants. Within the grounds are a bridge, a
rotunda A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...
and a
gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...
, each of which is individually listed as a Category A structure. Twice in its history, the house has been captured and ransacked. It was taken by forces acting under the orders of the
Marquess of Montrose A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow ...
in 1645 during the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union un ...
. It was attacked again by a group of
Jacobites A Jacobite is a follower of someone named Jacob or James, from the Latin ''Jācōbus''. Jacobite or Jacobitism may refer to: Religion * Arminianism, the theology of Jacobus Arminius * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Ch ...
during the
rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of the British Army was fightin ...
, shortly before they were defeated at the
Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...
. Cullen House was inherited by Nina Ogilvie-Grant-Studley-Herbert, the 12th Countess of Seafield, in 1915. She did not use it as her primary residence, nor did her son Ian Ogilvie-Grant, who inherited it on her death in 1969. By the time it was designated a listed building three years later it had become dilapidated, and its contents were auctioned off shortly afterwards. In 1982, it was purchased by
Kit Martin Kit Martin CBE (born 6 May 1947) is a British architectural designer and country house property developer. He is the son of Sir Leslie Martin, Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. Since the 1970s, Kit Martin has specialised ...
, a specialist in saving historic buildings. Martin worked with the local architect Douglas Forrest to convert the house into fourteen individual dwellings, retaining much of the original interior of the building. The house was badly damaged by fire in 1987, after which it underwent an extensive two-year programme of restoration. The subdivided house is still in use today as domestic accommodation.


History


Initial construction

Set on a clifftop above the Cullen Burn, Cullen House was built by the Ogilvies of Findlater, whose
seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...
had previously been at
Findlater Castle Findlater Castle is the old seat of the Earl of Findlater, Earls of Findlater and Earl of Seafield, Seafield, sitting on a -high cliff overlooking the Moray Firth on the coast of Banff and Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Location and etymol ...
on the coast about to the east. In 1482, the Ogilvies were granted the lands of
Findochty Findochty (pronounced , , ) is a village in Moray, Scotland, on the shores of the Moray Firth; historically it was part of Banffshire. The Gaelic name of the village was recorded by Diack using his own transcription method as ''fanna-guchti'', ...
and Seafield, and by 1543 they changed their patronage from the parish church at Fordyce to Cullen Old Church, which they helped to elevate to the status of a
collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...
. Buildings from around this time, which served as accommodation for the church's canons, stood on the site of the current house. These probably incorporated some of the stonework of an earlier medieval building on the site, known as Inverculain, which is mentioned in records of 1264, and is thought to have been home to
Marjorie, Countess of Carrick :''See also Marjorie Bruce, her granddaughter.'' Marjorie, Marjory or Marsaili of Carrick (also called Margaret; died before 9 November 1292) was Countess of Carrick, Scotland, Carrick, Scotland, from 1256 to 1292, and is notable as the mother of ...
, the mother of
Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...
. On 20 March 1600, building upon some of the structure of the canons' lodgings, work was started on a large new L-plan tower house for the
laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...
, Sir Walter Ogilvy, and his wife Dame Margaret Drummond. The family continued to prosper: in 1616, Walter Ogilvy was created
Lord Ogilvy of Deskford Earl of Seafield is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1701 for James Ogilvie, who in 1711 succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Findlater. The earldoms of Findlater and Seafield continued to be united until 1811, when the earl ...
, his son James was further elevated to become the first Earl of Findlater in 1638. The house was nearly destroyed in 1645 during the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union un ...
, when it was captured by the Farquharsons of
Braemar Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee, sitting at an elevation of . The Gaelic ''Bràigh Mhàrr'' p ...
acting on the orders of the
Marquess of Montrose A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow ...
. It was thoroughly plundered, and would have been burned down had the Countess of Findlater not paid Montrose a large ransom.


Extension, modification and Jacobite assault

In the centuries following its initial construction, the house underwent a series of renovations, extensions and modifications. A tower was added in 1660, shortly after the third earl inherited it. In 1701 the fourth earl was created the first Earl of Seafield, and in 1709 the architects Alexander McGill and James Smith were asked to submit plans for a complete remodelling in the
Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
style. These were drawn up, but in the end less radical extensions and modifications were executed to the north and west wings, between 1711 and 1714. The house was ransacked for a second time during the
Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...
.
James Ogilvy, 5th Earl of Findlater James Ogilvy, 5th Earl of Findlater and 2nd Earl of Seafield ( – 9 July 1764) was a Scottish peer. Early life James was born . He was the son of James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Seafield and the former Anne Dunbar. His father, the Lord Chancellor o ...
had travelled with his wife to
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
to meet the
Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British royal family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom w ...
who was pursuing the Jacobite Army led by
Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...
. In their absence, a group of Stuart's supporters forced their way into the house on 8 April 1746 and ransacked it, carrying off as much as possible and destroying what could not be easily transported. Three days later, continuing his pursuit that would end at the
Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...
, Cumberland arrived at the scene accompanied by Findlater to find the doors of the house forced open, the windows broken, and broken furniture and discarded papers strewn around the grounds. Findlater subsequently petitioned the
British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
for the sum of £8,000 in compensation for the losses incurred, but it is not clear whether he ever received any payment. Architects
James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...
and John Adam worked on the house from 1767 to 1769, installing the main staircase and building the gatehouse, and John Baxter made more internal modifications, including the building of the large bow window in the east facade, between 1777 and 1778. In 1780, the fourth earl commissioned
Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...
to provide a design for an entirely new house; this was not carried out, nor were James Playfair's 1788 designs for an extensive remodelling in "the Saxon style". Playfair's walled garden was constructed in the grounds in that year. Detailed records survive showing the layout of the house's gardens in 1760. There were walled courts lined with flower borders, roses and fruit trees, and a classical arrangement of rectangular plots laid out symmetrically on either side of an
avenue Avenue or Avenues may refer to: Roads * Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees) * Avenue Road, Bangalore * Avenue Road, Lon ...
. Thomas White, a landscape architect from Nottinghamshire, drew up plans for new and extensive landscaped gardens in 1789, although these were only partially executed. Between 1820 and 1830,
Ludovick Ogilvy-Grant, 5th Earl of Seafield Lewis Alexander Grant-Ogilvie, 5th Earl of Seafield, FRSE (22 March 1767 – 26 October 1840) was a Scottish nobleman. He is numbered as the 24th Chief of Clan Grant. His promising career was cut short by mental instability. Life He was born L ...
extended the gardens considerably by demolishing the entire village of Cullen, and building a new planned town for its inhabitants, laid out by George MacWilliam with alterations by Peter Brown and William Robertson, nearer the coast. The only remaining building from the original village is Cullen Old Church. Later in the nineteenth century, the
Great North of Scotland Railway The Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) was one of the two smallest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping, operating in the north-east of the country. Formed in 1845, it carried its first passengers the fro ...
hoped to cut through the house's grounds, but the earl refused his permission, forcing the company to build a viaduct, long and high, through the town of Cullen itself; the line was eventually opened in 1886. The house's current baronial revival appearance is largely the result of the extensive remodelling that was carried out from 1858 to 1868 by David Bryce, who worked to homogenise the disparate styles of the different parts of the building, and redesigned much of the interior. By the time Bryce had finished working on the house, it had a total of 386 rooms.


Deterioration and renovation

Renovation work was carried out on the house in 1913 by
Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...
, and in 1915 it was inherited by Nina Ogilvie-Grant-Studley-Herbert, the 12th Countess of Seafield, who later gained a reputation as the wealthiest woman in Britain after
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
. Since she spent most of her time at her home in
Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Austria * Nassau (Groß Sankt Florian), incorporated village of Groß Sankt Florian Bahamas *Nassau, The Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upp ...
in the Bahamas, the house was not her primary residence. The house was open to the public for part of the year in the 1960s. Ogilvie-Grant-Studley-Herbert died in 1969, and her estates passed to her son, Ian Ogilvie-Grant. He also lived elsewhere, and used the house commercially to host shooting parties and private functions. In 1972 it was designated a
Category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) *Category (V ...
. By this time it had become quite dilapidated, and its contents were sold off in 1975. Included in the sale was a collection of eighteenth-century paintings by Scottish artists working in Italy, including work by
Cosmo Alexander Cosmo Alexander (1724 – 25 August 1772) was a Scottish portrait painter. A supporter of James Edward Stuart's claim to the English and Scottish thrones, Alexander spent much of his life overseas following the defeat of the Jacobite cause i ...
. In 1982 the house was purchased by
Kit Martin Kit Martin CBE (born 6 May 1947) is a British architectural designer and country house property developer. He is the son of Sir Leslie Martin, Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. Since the 1970s, Kit Martin has specialised ...
, an
architectural designer The term architectural designer may refer to a building designer who is not a registered architect, architectural technologist or any other person that is involved in the design process of buildings or Urban design, urban landscapes. Architectura ...
who specialises in saving derelict historic buildings. He and the local architect Douglas Forrest set about repairing and restoring the structure, and together they converted it into fourteen separate private homes. On 17 June 1987, two years after the renovations had been completed, a fire broke out in the south wing which was being fitted out for new owners. Firefighters fought to contain the blaze, and although they managed to put it out within three hours, severe damage was caused to the south-east corner and the west wing. Restoration work was carried out over the course of the next two years, using photographic records and material recovered from the fire to restore the external masonry to its original appearance. Specialist
joiner Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, ...
s and
plasterer A plasterer is a tradesman who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering, has been used in buildin ...
s were brought in to work on the interiors, but some of the building's internal features including an early seventeenth-century painted ceiling in the second salon were irreparably damaged. The subdivided house remains in use as privately owned domestic accommodation .


Architecture

Cullen House is a large, ornately decorated and
turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...
ed house, which was built in several stages over several centuries. It is described by the architectural historian
Charles McKean Charles McKean FRSE FRSA FRHistS FRIBA (16 July 1946 – 29 September 2013) was a Scottish historian, author and scholar. Biography McKean was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 16 July 1946. He was educated at Fettes College, the University of P ...
as an "enormously complicated structure", and "one of the grandest houses in Scotland".


Exterior

The seventeenth-century L-plan
tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...
, which itself incorporated stonework from earlier buildings on the site, has been extended by the addition of
wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...
s to the north and south. The original entrance to the tower house is in the south-west angle of its west
courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...
, in a single-
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
, four-
storey A storey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or story (American English), is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the wor ...
facade. Above are two tourelles supported by
corbels In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...
, one of which bears the initials SVO and DMD, representing Sir Walter Ogilvy and his wife, Dame Margaret Drummond, for whom the house was built. This entrance has now been blocked and replaced by a window. The earliest section of the north wing, of five bays and three storeys in height, extends to the left of the door. Built in the early seventeenth century, its roof was raised in the eighteenth, and its windows were replaced with larger sash and case windows in the Georgian style. The roof line is broken by five
dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...
heads, carved with foliage and Corinthian
capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
. In the centre of the wing is another entrance, designed by
David Bryce David Bryce Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE FRIBA Royal Scottish Academy, RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scotland, Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David B ...
and carved by Thomas Goodwillie, and described by architectural historians David Walker and Matthew Woodworth as "exuberant" and "wildly boisterous". This features
pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
, more carved foliage, a
heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...
plaque and a pair of sculptural lions rampant. Beyond this block, there is a rectangular eighteenth-century extension, with a protruding
gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
end that was heavily baronialized in the nineteenth century. There are two-storey tourelles on each corner, and busts and carved figures, also by Goodwillie. The original seventeenth-century part of the west wing has seven bays, and three carved dormer heads, decorated with figures that depict
Faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...
,
Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...
, and
Charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
; all three originally had carved mottoes, but the inscription for Charity has been lost. The original seventeenth-century windows were mostly replaced with larger ones in the eighteenth century, but some of the original ones were blocked and have been retained as decorative features. At the west end, there is another extension, also baronialized in the nineteenth century, with more tourelles, a round
staircase tower A staircase tower or stair tower (, also ''Stiegenturm'' or ''Wendelstein'') is a tower-like wing of a building with a circular or polygonal plan that contains a stairwell, usually a helical staircase. History Only a few examples of staircase ...
, and carvings of
Father Time Father Time is a personification of time, in particular the progression of history and the approach of death. In recent centuries, he is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, sometimes with wings, dressed in a robe and carrying a scythe ...
holding a
scythe A scythe (, rhyming with ''writhe'') is an agriculture, agricultural hand-tool for mowing grass or Harvest, harvesting Crop, crops. It was historically used to cut down or reaping, reap edible grain, grains before they underwent the process of ...
and flanked by figures representing Youth and Old Age. The house's east facade, again heavily baronialized, has another entrance, recessed into the centre of the north wing, also with a flamboyantly carved doorway by Goodwillie; this is very similar to its counterpart on the other side of the wing, but without the lions. To either side of the doorway are a pair of four-storey towers, one with a
datestone A datestone is typically an embedded stone with the date of engraving and other information carved into it. They are not considered a very reliable source for dating a house, as instances of old houses being destroyed and rebuilt (with the old da ...
showing 1668, and there is a square
bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...
as well as three more triangular dormer heads. To the left side of the east facade is the rear of the original tower house, which has an early seventeenth-century tourelle, and another dormer head featuring a carved sun. The south facade looks onto the clifftop and the Cullen Burn below. At its right end is a staircase tower attached to the original tower house, to the left of which is a very large
bow window A bow window or compass window is a curved bay window. Like bay windows, bow windows add space to a room by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building and provide a wider view of the garden or street outside than flush windows, but combine ...
. Left of this is a section of five bays, which is part of the eighteenth-century building work and has been little altered since, save for the addition of a single tourelle, and an elaborate staircase tower which can be seen prominently from the gorge below and is known as the Punch Bowl. Beyond the north wing is a U-plan service court, two storeys high with a
bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...
on its north facade. Built in the late eighteenth century, it originally housed the kitchen and laundry, and has been converted into six
apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...
s and an architectural
studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...
.


Interior

The main house has been divided into seven separate apartments. Efforts were made during the restoration to retain as many of the building's historical features as possible, and each of the principal rooms was retained intact within one of the apartments. There is a square entrance hall in the north wing, with a fireplace decorated with blue and white
Delftware Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue () or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major cen ...
tiles. Beyond this is a two-storey stair hall, with a staircase and ceiling, both by James Adam, and an elaborately carved wooden door, dated 1618, with its original key and lock. Many of the house's original public rooms retain original Victorian ceilings; others, which were damaged in the fire of 1987, have been restored or reproduced. A grand Jacobean painted ceiling, depicting the siege of Troy and bearing the
royal arms of Scotland Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roy ...
(suggesting that it predated the 1603
Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas diplomacy) of the two separate realms under a single ...
), was destroyed by the fire. It has been replaced by a painting of bubbles and astronauts by Robert Ochardson.


Grounds

The house's grounds contain several structures which are Category A listed in their own right. These include a bridge, gatehouse, and a temple. Leading off the house's west courtyard is a bridge built between 1744 and 1745 by William Adam, which crosses the gorge of the Cullen Burn. It has a single arch, with a span of and a height of , and is built of granite
ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
with
rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...
s. At the south-east entrance to the estate is a gatehouse known as the Grand Entrance, which was built by James Adam between 1767 and 1768. This wide entrance for carriages is built in the form of a
triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...
. Ionic columns support a
pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...
with armorial decoration in the tympanum. On top there are carved lions, rampant at the apex, and
recumbent Recumbent may refer to: * Recumbence, the act or state of lying down or leaning * Recumbent bicycle, a bicycle, tricycle or quadricycle which places the rider in a reclined or supine position * Recumbent effigy A tomb effigy ( French: ''gis ...
to the sides. There are entrances for pedestrians in the walls flanking the archway, which connect to several single-storey lodges. On a hilltop at the north end of the grounds there is a garden feature in the form of a Grecian temple pavilion made of polished ashlar. An open rotunda with a leaded roof and a plasterwork ceiling is supported by eight Ionic columns, which sit atop the walls of a round basement tearoom. There was originally a statue depicting either Pomona or
Pheme In Greek mythology, Pheme ( ; Greek: , ''Phēmē''; Roman equivalent: Fama), also known as Ossa in Homeric sources, was the personification of fame and renown, her favour being notability, her wrath being scandalous rumours. She was a daughter ...
at the centre of the rotunda. The tearoom has a round-arched doorway, flanked by matching windows. It was constructed in 1822 by William Robertson, following 1788 original designs by James Playfair which are still in the Seafield estate's archives. The statue was lost between 1939 and 1945, and the floor of the rotunda has collapsed; the round pediment of the statue now lies in the centre of the ruined tearoom. The structure was stabilised between 1977 and 1978, and restored in 1981 after it was threatened with demolition. The grounds include a
walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...
from 1788, designed by James Playfair. There are also several estate buildings, many of which were designed by Robertson, and by his nephews Alexander and William Reid who continued his practice after his death. These include an ice house, a garden house, a laundry, and cottages for staff such as gardeners.


Notes


References

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External links


Canmore listing, with gallery of images
Category A listed buildings in Moray Country houses in Moray Scottish baronial architecture 1600 beginnings