Islay, Foreland House

The original nucleus of this small 19th-century mansion is a late Georgian rectangular block of two main storeys and a basement, probably dating from about 1820. The principal or N elevation is a symmetrical three-bay composition measuring 17.3m in length. The centrally-placed entrance-doorway has a pilastered and pedimented surround, and the windows have offset margins and projecting sills, the upper-floor windows being placed immediately beneath a plain block eaves-cornice which is returned at the ends. The roof is slated and gable-ended. This original portion of the house is of two-room depth and measures 12.9m transversely over walls 0.8 m thick. The interior has been remodelled on at least one occasion, and in the existing arrangement the dining-room, drawing-room and library are grouped around a longitudinal E-W corridor with the principal stair located at its E end. At first-floor level a suite of bedrooms opens off an axial corridor. Internal fittings of interest include a curved drawing-room door and a series of reeded door-architraves and fireplace-surrounds.

Attached to the W of the main block is a two-storeyed and L-shaped kitchen and service-range which appears to represent a remodelling and enlargement of an earlier ancillary wing. The buildings are grouped around two sides of an open courtyard which has been further infilled on the E side and is entered at the rear through a curved screen-wall.

The two-storeyed and gable-fronted E wing is a mid-19th-century extension which contains a billiard-room on the ground floor and is backed by a later conservatory and greenhouse.

A two-storeyed building which evidently served as the coach-house stands s of the main W approach to the house. The building, which is harled and lime-washed, has a blind arcade and pedimented centrepiece; it now serves as two dwellings and has a pair of outshots at the rear.

The builder of the house was Captain Walter Campbell, who purchased the Sunderland estate from his father, Walter Campbell of Islay, in 1814. (Storrie 1981)

Visited June 1979

RCAHMS 1984