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Arisaig House
House (Period Unassigned), Military Camp (20th Century)
Site Name Arisaig House
Classification House (Period Unassigned), Military Camp (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Arisaig House Hotel; Special Training Centre; Military Intelligence Wing Soe.
Canmore ID 22531
Site Number NM68SE 4
NGR NM 69154 84854
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22531
- Council Highland
- Parish Arisaig And Moidart
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Lochaber
- Former County Inverness-shire
Arisaig House, Philip Webb, 1863-4; rebuilt on smaller scale by I. B. M. Hamilton & Orphoot, Whiting & Lindsay, 1937 Webb's first country house, built for Francis Dukinfield Palmer Astley, only the bones of which survived a devastating fire in 1935. Webb's references to the English parsonage style, beefed up in response to the rugged setting, remain only vaguely discernible in the somewhat indigestible rebuild. Closest to the original is the east-facing entrance court, where the gothic windows, clocktower and kitchen wing with massive battery of flues are largely Webb's work. The oak-finished interior of 1937 and later includes a cherrywoodpanelled dining room with Art Deco lighting and a staircase carved with leaves and gamebirds. Built of local granite rubble with dark whinstone dressings, the house rises from a wooded slope, steeply terraced on the south with a two-tiered walled kitchen garden.
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
NM68SE 4.00 69154 84854
Arisaig House is situated on the W side of the Borrowdale Burn about 336m SW of Borrowdale House (NM68NE 3.00).
The House was requisitioned by the military during World War II as part of the Special Traing Centres in the NW of Scotland. The house was altered in 1940 to accommodate the Military Intelligence Wing of the Special Traing Centre at Lochailort (NM78SE 6 and NM78SE 15 ).
The House is visible on vertical air photographs taken in 1946 (CPE/UK/Scot/177, fraames 1373-1375, flown 7 October 1946), but there is no evidence for huts or military activity. In addition, RAF WW II vertical air photographs of the House and surrounding area (241H, frames A1-A3; B1-B3, flown 14 March 1941), also show no evidence of miltary activity.
Information from RCAHMS (DE), April 2008; S Allan 2007
NM68SE 4.00 69154 84854
NM68SE 4.01 centred NM 69277 84925 Cottage
NM68SE 4.02 centred NM 69245 84879 Walled Garden
Architect: Philip Webb, 1864 - original house, partly burnt, 1835. Plans in possession of Mr A McLellan, Arisaig House.
Ian Hamilton, 1937 - rebuilt, (under supervision of B.N.H. Orphoot).
Photographic Survey (August 1963)
Photographic survey by the Scottish National Buildings Record in August 1963.
