Standing Building Recording

Date 1999

Event ID 624071

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/624071

NO 0029 8688 An archaeological recording exercise was conducted at the Red House, Mar Lodge Estate, in August 1998. The building was recorded in its present condition, both inside and out, although detailed inspection of the roof and interior upper storey was not possible due to problems of accessibility. The site is presently in a state of advanced disrepair, and the archaeological recording exercise was intended to precede a programme of restoration, consolidation and repair.

As it presently stands, the house is a simple, rubble-built rectangular structure aligned approximately NE-SW, with a single doorway and two windows in the SE wall, and a further central window in the NW wall. The whole is roofed in rusted corrugated iron, from which the house takes its present name.

The findings of the survey generally confirmed that the house had two main structural phases. Initially the structure took the form of a rectangular building, probably of similar dimensions to the present house, but with a cruck-framed roof, tied into the long walls. This survived in the NW wall internally as four timber battens, or crucks, with angled timbers attached to their tops. The latter were sawn off when the roof was replaced, and the timbers themselves were plastered over, being no longer an integral structural element in the house. The composition of the original roofing material could not be deduced. A potential function of the original building as a dwelling is implied by the presence of a fireplace in the NE wall.

The second period saw the complete rebuilding of the original SE and SW walls, the latter incorporating a large, central fireplace. The NW wall was altered, with the upper stonework being added to either side of a newly inserted central window. The NE gable was also raised, fossilising the Period 1 chimney within the new build, and the roof was also replaced at this time. After taking its present form, the house saw the additions of lean-to structures against the SE, NE and NW walls, the former acting as a porch, with a doorway on its SW side. Internally the Period 2 house was sub-divided into at least three, more probably four, compartments, with stud-frames attached to the long walls via dooks, and suspended from the transverse beams of the roof. The internal sub-divisions have been removed, but their locations can be deduced from scars in the plasterwork on the NW and SE walls internally. The attic space seems to have been an open, continuous garret throughout its length, no sub-divisions being recorded.

Sponsors: Historic Scotland, National Trust for Scotland

A Dunn 1999