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Summary

Description

Meikle Kildrummie is an L-plan house built sometime between the later 17^th century and mid-18^th century, with 19^th century additions. It comprises a two-storey, four-bay house with an early-19^th century, single-storey, three-bay cottage at right angles. The whole is of stone construction and harled with painted margins. There is a slightly off-centre entrance opening to the main house with a cornice above and a round-headed entrance door with small, square windows flanking.

The window openings are in a variety of sizes with a mixture of glazing patterns, predominantly four-pane glazing to the front elevation. There are three dormer windows above the roof eaves on the rear (southwest) pitch of the single-storey cottage roof. The roofs throughout are covered in grey slates with crowstepped gables and end chimneystacks to the earlier section of the house. The single-storey cottage range has straight skews and end chimneystacks.

Historical background

East and West Kildrummy [sic] are both marked on Timothy Pont's map of around 1583-1614 and on Robert Gordon's map of around 1636-52. The slightly later Atlas of Scotland by Blaeu of 1654 shows a settlement marked S[outh] Kildrummy in roughly the same location as the house currently occupies, north of the River Nairn between Broadley and Kilravock. On William Roy's map of 1747-52, there is a house clearly marked as 'Kildrummie House' with accompanying grounds. This map evidence and the design and style of the house suggest Meikle Kildrummie was constructed sometime between the mid-17^th century and the mid-18^th century.

Meikle Kildrummie was historically part of the Kilravock estate and was owned by the Rose family. In the mid-18^th century, it was used as a Dower House by the Roses (Bain, pp.421-425). The principal seat of the Rose family was Kilravock Castle to the west.

Robert Burns visited the area in the autumn of 1787 and, with a letter of introduction from Henry Mackenzie, visited Elizabeth Rose, 19^th Baroness of Kilravock (1747-1815) at Kilravock Castle. She was a literary critic, author and prolific letter writer. Burns accompanied Elizabeth Rose and Mrs Grant, the wife of the minister of Cawdor, to Meikle Kildrummie where Lady Brae and Miss Rose (Elizabeth's mother-in-law and sister-in-law) lived (Bain, pp.423-25). An inventory taken a few years before Burns' visit lists the works held at the library at Kildrummie, including Pope's Letters, the Tatler, the works of Milton, Shenstone, Prior and Dryden, as well as plays, pamphlets and songs (Bain, p.425).

The 1851 census and contemporary newspaper reports show that Meikle Kildrummie was operating as a farm by the earlier decades of the 19^th century (Ancestry; Glasgow Herald). It is recorded as the principal farm on the Kilravock estate in 1860 (Elgin Courant).

Meikle Kildrummie is first shown in detail on the 1^st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1866-68 as an L-shaped house with extensive farm buildings, over a track, to the northeast of the house. The 2^nd Edition map of 1904 shows some infill at the corner where the single-storey cottage meets the earlier section of the house.

The Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1869 describes the property as one of the largest farm steadings in the area, a large site comprising a two-storey house with two Courts of Offices and some timber sheds, all owned by Major Rose of Kilravock Castle (OS1/22/6/19). The mid-19^th century tenant of Meikle Kildrummie was Robert Anderson who, on an improving lease, converted the mossy land into arable fields. Anderson went on to become a leading agriculturalist in the County of Nairn (Bain, pp.479, 590; Inverness Courier, 1852). The census returns between 1871 and 1901 show the Macintyre family farmed Meikle Kildrummie for the latter half of the 19^th century (Ancestry).

The house and farm remained part of the Kilravock estate until the 1970s, after which it was sold and became a private home (Press and Journal).

Statement of Special Interest

Meikle Kildrummie meets the criteria for listing for the following reasons:

• The historic 17^th and early 18^th century architectural design of Meikle Kildrummie is largely retained, particularly to its external elevations. This includes its distinctive, earlier vernacular detailing, such as its crowstepped gables, its window openings of different sizes and its first floor windows set close to the roof eaves.
• The plan form and setting of the house survives largely as it was shown on the 1^st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1866-68, incorporating the earlier house and the 19^th century additions when Meikle Kildrummie operated as a tenanted farm.
• In terms of its setting, it remains a distinctive historic building within the landscape and is visible from the road.
• It is an early surviving example of its building type.
• It has social historical interest for its contribution to the area's agricultural history.
• It has an association with a person of national importance.

Architectural interest

Design

The design and style of Meikle Kildrummie indicates it was a house of some status in the parish, such as a Dower House and, later, a large, tenanted farm on the Kilravock estate. It is a good quality, well-detailed example of a later 17^th century or early to mid-18^th century Scots vernacular house. It is a multiphase house which retains its distinctive, earlier vernacular detailing, including its crowstepped gables, its window openings of differing proportions and its first floor windows set close to the roof eaves.

As a site, it developed from a private house (in the late-17^th and 18^th century) to a large, tenanted farm (in the 19^th century) and back to a private home (by the late-20^th century). As such, the building has undergone some additions as the needs of the accommodation have changed over time, including the addition of the later, single-storey cottage which was probably added in the early-19^th century when Meikle Kildrummie became a tenanted farm. The single-storey extension on the northeast end of the earlier part of the house appears to date from the late-19^th century (it is shown on the 2^nd Edition map of 1904) and was later converted to a garage (it is shown as such on photographs taken in 1981 (Canmore

.

The footprint of the house survives largely as it is shown on the 1^st Edition map of 1866-68. There has been some minor change, such as the low infill addition at the southwest corner of the building where the single-storey cottage juts at right angles, however this has not detracted from the overall later 17^th or 18^th century form of the house. While the property has undergone incremental refurbishment since the 1970s, including the addition of replacement windows, the replacement of interior materials and the reconfiguration of interior spaces, its historic character is largely retained and its exterior design is largely intact.

Meikle Kildrummie continues to demonstrate quality of design and construction in the Scots vernacular style. The house retains much of its later 17^th to mid-18^th century architectural interest, including its footprint, external detailing and overall historic character.

Setting

Meikle Kildrummie is in a rural, roadside position, southwest of the centre of Nairn. It remains a distinctive building within the landscape and is visible from the road that runs past the entrance to the property and from higher ground to the northwest. The immediate historic setting of the house itself is largely retained as it is surrounded by mature trees and garden ground and its layout is largely the same as that shown on the 1^st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1866-68. The loss of the historically and functionally related farming buildings and steading to the northeast has changed the wider setting as it appeared in the 19^th century, however the loss of these buildings and their replacement with later structures hasn't adversely affected the overall historic character of the earlier house.

Historic interest

Age and rarity

The older a building is, and the fewer of its type that survive, the more likely it is to be of special interest. Meikle Kildrummie was built sometime between the later 17^th century and the early to mid-18^th century by the Kilravock estate and was known to have been used as a Dower House by the Rose family in the mid-18^th century.

Houses built on landed estates, such as Laird's houses or Dower houses, are not a rare building type in Scotland, however Meikle Kildrummie is an early surviving example of a 17^th century house. It is a well-detailed example of a once common Scots vernacular building type which survives largely in its original form externally. The later cottage addition further contributes to the historic character, setting and significance of the site by showing how it evolved over time from a private residence in the 17^th and 18^th centuries to a large, tenanted farm in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Social historical interest

From the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, agriculture in Scotland was transformed as small-scale subsistence farming gave way to the creation of larger, commercial farming practices. This radical change in farming, known as the Improvement or Agricultural Improvement period, saw the construction of new farmhouses and associated buildings and many of these vernacular buildings would have been replaced or 'improved'.

The Agricultural Improvement period came later to the Highland region. The later use of Meikle Kildrummie as a large farm from the early to mid-19^th century, although altered and now a private residence, is a tangible built reminder of the Improvement era and the impact this had on 19^th century rural society.

Association with people or events of national importance

The house has an association with Scotland's most celebrated poet, Robert Burns. He visited Meikle Kildrummie in the autumn of 1787, accompanied by Elizabeth Rose of Kilravock Castle and Mrs Grant, the wife of the minister of Cawdor. The Rose family held a significant collection of books in the library at Meikle Kildrummie. An inventory taken a few years before Burns' visit showed the library included Pope's Letters, the works of Milton, Shenstone, Prior, Dryden and Voltaire among other books, pamphlets and traditional songs (Bain, p.425).

Listed building record revised in 2024.

References

Bibliography

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