Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

BREACHACHA CASTLELB4709

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Group Category Details
100000019 - See Notes
Date Added
20/07/1971
Supplementary Information Updated
21/05/2008
Local Authority
Argyll And Bute
Planning Authority
Argyll And Bute
Parish
Coll
NGR
NM 15896 54014
Coordinates
115896, 754014

Description

1750; additions and alterations 1856, and later additions. 4-storey, 3-bay, symmetrical, square-plan, piended-roof, Gothick-Baronial castle linked to 2-storey, 3-bay pavilions by quadrant walls with blind Venetian windows. Crenellated wallheads, corner bartizans, floral plaque to central raised section of S parapet. Later 19th century red sandstone gabled porch to North with corner bartizans and ball stone finials. Rendered rubble walls; raised ashlar quoins to main (S) elevation; margined quoins to rear. Margined window surrounds. Mould door surround to S door.

Plate glass timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof with leaded flat sections. Corniced rectangular ashlar stacks with plain clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: elements of interior decorative scheme survive, but most internal finishes lost and majority of internal walls stripped to bare stonework. Stone staircase with dado panelling and cast-iron balustrade to second floor, later timber stair over existing to 3rd floor. Chimneypieces to first floor principal rooms. 4-panel timber doors to 3rd floor. Timber panelled shutters. 18th century entrance stairs in evidence under the later 19th century porch addition.

EAST WING: poor condition (2007), former kitchen and laundry wing. Timber stairs to first floor. Remnants of limewash to interior of 18th century quadrant wall. Sandstone flags to original section and terracotta flags to later addition. Timber-boarded partitions; chimneypieces; metal-lined timber moth box.

WEST WING: open to 2 storeys with timber partition, currently used as workshop. Tall rubble wall enclosing courtyard area.

Statement of Special Interest

A-Group with Old Breachacha Castle and Breachacha Steading (see separate listings).

Breachacha Castle is a prominent mid 18th country house that was baronialised in the mid 19th century and forms a strong and tightly-knit group with the associated 15th century old castle and the adjacent Breachacha Steading. Together these buildings form a remarkable set-piece: the new castle positioned so that the old castle is visible from it, and then remodelled to reflect its architecture; the steading designed to match. The existence of this group in such a remote island setting makes it all the more exceptional.

The house was built in 1750 by Hector Maclean 13th Laird of Coll to replace the neighbouring 15th century Old Breachacha Castle. As first constructed it was an astylar classical, 3-storey, piended roof villa linked to a pair of small square-plan pavilions by quadrant walls. When visiting in 1773 Boswell and Johnson found this 'new-built gentleman's house' a mere tradesman's box'.

In 1856 the building underwent major improvements when it, together with the whole island, was bought by John Lorne Stewart. A fourth storey was added to the main house, its windows were enlarged and the pavilions extended. The work was executed in a Gothick-Baronial style with crenellated parapets and bartizan turrets. This style, which was being superseded in southern parts of Scotland by a more scholarly form of Baronial detailing, continued to be popular in the Highlands through the mid 19th century. The gabled porch to the north elevation was added in the late 19th century, at which point internal remodelling was also carried out.

The relationship between this house and old castle is particularly interesting and reflects the changing attitudes towards historic architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries. The house, as built in 1750, followed the neo-Palladian style that was fashionable at the time. The old castle was retained as an historic feature in the landscape; the new house positioned so that the old one was visible from the windows (but only if one stands right by the window ' the view of it does not intrude). A hundred years later neo-Palladian architecture had fallen out of fashion, and the house was remodelled to emulate the architecture of the older building ' the stark contrast between the old and new presumably no longer felt to be acceptable and the historical style perhaps also chosen to help legitimise the new laird's position.

The building lay empty from the 1930s until the 1980s during which period many of the internal fixtures and fittings were removed for use in other buildings on the island.

Late 19th century accretions of a forestair to E elevation and a 1936 South porch were both removed in 1990s at which point the roof of main house was also repaired. The blocked 1st floor S window was opened up and the 1750 date stone removed, now lying broken in garden (2007). The majority of rooms on the upper floors have now been stripped back to their bare stone walls. The panelling from the dining room to the SE corner 1st floor was also removed and believed to now be installed in Cliad farmhouse to the north of the Island.

List description revised and category upgraded to A, 2008.

References

Bibliography

Murdoch Mackenzie Map, West side of the Island Mull with Islands Tiri and Coll, 1775. 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map (circa 1881). RCAHMS, Argyll, Volume 3, Mull, Tiree, Coll and Northern Argyll, (1980), p228. F Walker, Buildings of Scotland, Argyll and Bute (2000), p503. N Banks Six Inner Hebrides (1977), p109.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 18:22