Novar House was built in 1720 by John Munro, on the site of an earlier house belonging to Robert Munro of Novar and his wife Helen (a reset date stone of 1634 is set within the west elevation). The house and grounds are shown on Roy's Military Survey Map of 1747–55.
The framework of the current designed landscape was created in the later 18th century by landowner, MP and army officer, Colonel, later General, Sir Hector Munro of Novar (1726–1805), who funded the works from the profits he gained in India.
In the 18th century, Britain was expanding its empire in India through the commercial and military activities of the East India Company. Having established himself at home in the royal regiments, Hector Munro was in India from 1761–65 and led the Company Army at the Battle of Buxar (Baksar or Bhaksar in northeast India) in 1764. Victory here ensured British supremacy in Bengal and for Hector Munro, a private fortune distributed by the new client ruler and landholders that secured his material position for the rest of his life (Mackillop 2005: 239).
Hector Munro spent most of his fortune on land purchases and improvements at Novar. The first phase of this work took place on his return from India in 1767 and coincided with his entry into Highland politics as MP for the Inverness Burghs. During a period of around 10 years, he undertook a scheme of building and estate improvement. He extended the house (circa 1770), and improved land, draining the mosses, and incorporating the latest agricultural methods.
In 1775, Matthew Culley noted that 'Colonel Monroe of Navarre...was improving a very barren soil in a most spirited and expeditious manner. The situation of the Colonel's house exceeds everything in all this pretty country, and he lives in the most elegant manner, everything being in the cleanest and neatest stile we have hitherto seen.'
A survey plan of 1777 outlines much of this work. It depicts a gridiron series of enclosure fields and drives, as well as proposals aimed at increasing the amenities of the mansion (Aitken, 1777 notes among other proposals, 'A Lawn intended around the House'). The execution of Aitken's survey and plan may well have been spurred on by Munro's projected return to India.
By 1777, Munro's finances had been impacted by a decade of expenditure at Novar and losses from the 1772 Ayr Bank failure. He likely viewed a second sojourn to India as a ready solution and among his early actions on arrival was to recover outstanding financial obligations from his previous term (Mackillop 2005: 239; Bryant 2004). Hector Munro returned to India as commander-in-chief of the Madras army and spent a total of five more years in India.
Although this second period began well with a victory in 1778 for the siege of Pondicherry (now Pudicherry) and a resulting knighthood, his reputation was seriously damaged for his role in the Battle of Polillur near Conjeevaram (Kanchipuram in south-eastern India) in 1780 - the worst defeat for the British in 18th century India. Some redemption came in 1781 with his actions under Sir Eyre Coote at the battle of Porto Novo (1 July 1781) and his command of the siege of Negapatam at the start of the Fourth Anglo Dutch War ). In ill-health, he left India in 1782. Although his active military career had ended, he received further promotion in later life, becoming colonel of the Black Watch in 1787, a lieutenant-general in 1793, and general in 1798 (Munro, Hector – Oxford Dictionary National Biography 2004; Evanton Oral History Project: Novar Estate).
Returning to Highland society and his political career, Hector Munro recommenced investment in the Novar policies, further transforming and embellishing the local landscape in a second phase of major building, planting and improvement works during the 1780s and 1790s. By this period, he had converted upland areas to sheep runs and laid out a series of gardens in the extensive walled garden (1796, Estate Plan; Richardson and Clough, 1989). The parkland planting, initially modest in scale, was augmented with a series of clumps, roundels and platoons, which decorated The Lawn (planned in the 1770s), the largest area of parkland, extending south of the house. Further ornamentation of the Lawn included a large statue of the Novar Eagle, the heraldic crest of the Munros, perched on top of a mount in the west Lawn. Two plantations, to east and west, flanked the house. Between 1788 and 1792, around 778,000 firs and Scots pine had been planted (MacKillop 2005: 247). Many of the enclosure parks were named after Munro's campaigns or Indian places: 'Buxar Park, Bombay Park, Madrafs Park, Negapatnam Park, Mount Delly Park, Nilafaram park, Mattalloy Park, Taujore Park, Trichenopoly Park, Surat Park, Calcutta Park, Benerafs Park...' as well as the more functional 'Sheep Park, Kiln Park' or the more local names 'Firish New Park... The Inn Park' (1796, Estate Plan).
One of Munro's most conspicuous works was the hilltop Fyrish Monument, built in 1792 to provide work for his tenantry. Tradition says that it is a copy of the gates of the fortress of Negapatam on the Coromandel coast. Although not a copy, it loosely follows Indian architectural styles in the shape of its three arches. It is likely that Munro designed it himself, to commemorate his victory in 1781. Southey noted General Munro's work in his Journal in 1819: 'There are extensive plantations on the hills behind the house, and some odd edifices on the summits which he is said to have designed as imitations of the hill-forts in India. One of them appeared like a huge sort of Stonehenge; but we saw it only from a distance.' Other follies included a Chinese Temple, built on the edge of Temple Park.
Munro is reputed to have spent a total of around £120,000 on land acquisition and estate improvement (Mackillop, Oxford Dictionary National Biography 2004). He supported the introduction of sheep into the Highlands and Novar was among the first estates to see large-scale opposition north of the Great Glen (Mackillop 2005: 252) – In summer 1792, troops were called in to restore order after protests against rent increases, the loss of arable, and the enclosure of common grazing (Munro, Hector – Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004).
Hector Munro was unmarried. Of his three children, two sons were killed in India. One by a tiger (a well known incident) and the other by a shark. His daughter Jean was unable to inherit Novar in her own right, so the property was left to his brother Sir Alexander Munro, who was for many years consul general at Madrid and thereafter, a commissioner of excise. His son, Hugh Alexander Munro (d.1865), followed him. He died without any legitimate heirs and the property reverted to Jean's family as she had by now been married to General Sir Ronald Ferguson of Raith, Kirkcaldy. In the late 19th century, many of the existing exotic trees and shrubs were planted in the grounds. In 1890, additions and alterations were made to the house for Ronald Munro Ferguson, including a porch (removed in 1956).
Arthur Munro Ferguson made major improvements to the gardens in the 1950s. He designed and developed a water garden around the slaughterhouse and privy, planted gardens to the west of the house and constructed a garden wall with statuary niches. He constructed a lake fed by the Allt Duilleag in the southern parkland. A series of architectural features bought from the demolition of Rosehaugh in 1972 (see Rosehaugh) were incorporated into Novar House.