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Lochnell House
Country House (17th Century), Icehouse (18th Century)(Possible)
Site Name Lochnell House
Classification Country House (17th Century), Icehouse (18th Century)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Lochnell Castle
Canmore ID 22997
Site Number NM83NE 2
NGR NM 88591 38978
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/22997
First 100 images shown. See the Collections panel (below) for a link to all digital images.
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Ardchattan And Muckairn (Argyll And Bute)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NM83NE 2.00 88591 38978Lochnell House
NM83NE 2.01 88731 38984 Steading
NM83NE 2.02 88795 39050 Barn
(NM 8860 3895) Lochnell House (NAT)
OS 1/10,000 map, (1977)
NMRS NOTES
Lochnell House.
Lochnell House (RCAHMS 1975) Lochnell Castle (Millar and Kirkhope 1964) incorporates work of four main periods ranging in date from about the end of the 17th century to about the end of the 19th century. The late 17th century house is now represented only by a service- wing, which forms the SW range of the present building, but a main block of contemporary, or of earlier, date must formerly have occupied the NE portion of the site. In about 1737-9 the house was altered and enlarged by the erection of a new dwelling-house to the SE of this earlier main block. Between about 1818 and 1820 the house was again remodelled, the early NE main block being removed and its site utilised for the erection of a substantial mansion in the castellated style, to which the SW service-wing and the early Georgian dwelling-house formed flanking appendages. At the same time a court of offices, also in the castellated style, was constructed on the NW side of the house, and the SW service wing was extended in length. In 1853 the greater part of the house was gutted by fire, and the building appears to have remained unoccupied until towards the end of the century, when the early Georgian dwelling-house and the SW service-wing were restored. Of the late Georgian mansion, however, only the NE portion was reoccupied, the remainder being patched up and allowed to remain as a roofless shell. There is an 18th- or early 19th century ice-house about 50m to the S of the house.
H B Millar and J Kirkhope 1964; RCAHMS 1975, visited 1968.
As described above. Known locally as 'Lochnell Castle' and of no particular architectural importance.
Visited by OS (W D J) 11 November 1969.
EXTERNAL REFERENCE
Scottish Record Office:
Rebuilding of the Mansionhouse.
Sir Duncan Campbell has decided to 'pull down and remove some of the superfluous parts of the old house and put it in another order'. John Johnston writes that the work requires his close attention and so he is unable to comply with Sir John's request.
1738 GD 18/5009
Field Visit (June 1968)
Lochnell House (Pls. 98A, B, 99A)stands in wooded policies near the head of Ardmucknish Bay, some 10 km NE of Oban. The existing building incorporates work of four main periods ranging in date from about the end of the 17th century to about the end of the 19th century. The late 17th-century house is now represented only by a service-wing, which forms the SW range of the present building (Fig. 220), but a main block of contemporary, or of earlier, date must formerly have occupied the NE portion of the site. In about 1737-9 the house was altered and enlarged by the erection of a new dwelling-house to the SE of this earlier main block. Between about 1818 and 1820 the house was again remodelled, the early NE main block being swept away and its site utilized for the erection of a substantial mansion in the castellated style, to which the SW service-wing and the early Georgian dwelling-house formed flanking appendages. At the same time a court of offices, also in the castellated style, was constructed on the NW side of the house, and the SW service-wing was extended in length. In 1853 the greater part of the house was gutted by fire, and the building appears to have remained unoccupied until towards the end of the century, when the early Georgian dwelling-house and the SW service-wing were restored. Of the late Georgian mansion, however, only the NE portion was reoccupied, the remainder being patched up and allowed to remain as a roofless shell.See the original text for detailed descriptions of the south-west service wing, the early Georgian dwelling-house and the late-Georgian mansion. The family most closely associated with the history of this house is that of Campbell of Lochnell, whose founder John, second son of Colin, 3rd Earl of Argyll, is on record as laird of Lochnell in 1536. This branch of the family took their title from that portion of their estates situated around Loch Nell, in the parish of Kilmore and Kilbride, but subsequently transferred the name to their Benderloch property of Ardmucknish, which became their principal residence. Pont's map indicates the existence of a residence in this locality at about the beginning of the 17th century, but the oldest portion of the present structure can probably be ascribed to Alexander Campbell, 6th of Lochnell, who succeeded to the property in about 1671 and who died in 1713. His son Sir Duncan Campbell, 7th of Lochnell, built the early Georgian house. Little is known about the circumstances of its erection, but it would appear that in October 1738 building-operations at Lochnell were being supervised by John Johnstone, a close associate of the architect John Baxter, elder. It seems possible, therefore, that Baxter played some part in the design of LochnelI. The late Georgian mansion was erected by Lt. Gen. Duncan Campbell, 8th of Lochnell, at a cost of more than £15,000 (NSA, vii (Argyll), 50), the architect on this occasion probably having been Archibald Elliot (SRO, Commissariot of Edinburgh, 28 June 1825: his wife indicates a debt of £113 by ‘General Campbell’). The late 19th century restoration of the house, following the fire of 1853 (Name Book No. 1, p.11), was probably carried out by Archibald Campbell, 13th of Lochnell, whose successor Archibald, 14th of Lochnell, sold the property to the 12th Earl of Dundonald in 1918 (Burke’s Landed Gentry, 1939 edn, 337-8).
RCAHMS 1975, visited June 1968.
* SRO, Clerk of Penicuik Collection, GD 18/5009. Johnstone, a wright by trade, lived on Sir John Clerk's estate at Penicuik, and is known to have worked with Baxter at Mavisbank, Midlothian; Haddo, Aberdeenshire; and Galloway House, Wigtownshire. Cf. Simpson, Ann M, 'TheArchitectural Work of the Baxter family in Scotland 1722-98', p. 22 (unpublished Edinburgh University thesis, 1971,copy in N.M.RS.).
Measured Survey (1969)
Measured survey at Lochnell House included the preparation of a phased ground-floor plan (pencil drawing AGD 337/5) and a principal elevation of the early Georgian House of c.1737 (partially reconstructed) (AGD 337/4)/ Both drawings were reproduced in ink (AGD 337/2 and /1 respectively) and published at a reduced scale (RCAHMS 1975, figs 220 and 221).
Photographic Survey (27 February 2012)
Photographed by the Threatened Buildings Survey prior to planned resoration of the semi-derelict towers and wider photography by the Listed Buildings Area Survey as part of the Argyll upgrade programme.
RCAHMS (CAJS) 2012.
