Recording Your Heritage Online
Event ID 567016
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Recording Your Heritage Online
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/567016
Amhuinnsuidhe, David Bryce, 1867 Doughty baronial mansion (originally Fincastle), built for the 7th Earl of Dunmore. Squeezed onto a tight site between rock and water, the main block is castellated and crowstepped, with a corner turret and rounded angles; an extension eastwards soon after it was built has a crowstepped bay with first floor oriel flanked by bartizans. A string course ties the whole composition together about its midrift. Inside, the main hall is on the first floor - a music hall, with twin baronial fireplaces. The panelled dining room retains original Gillows furniture. Any possibility of landscaped policies is reduced to a narrow grassy terrace, with a sea wall parapet overlooking a rhododendronscarred promontory. Above, clinging to the rock face, is a shrub and ornamental tree garden (formerly with glasshouses). Best of all is the castle''s very raison d'etre - the salmon river, 'landscaped' into a cascade which tumbles over rocks beside the road, and into the sea.
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
