Auchtermuchty, High Street, Macduff House
House (16th Century)
Site Name Auchtermuchty, High Street, Macduff House
Classification House (16th Century)
Canmore ID 30300
Site Number NO21SW 2
NGR NO 23743 11734
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/30300
- Council Fife
- Parish Auchtermuchty
- Former Region Fife
- Former District North East Fife
- Former County Fife
NO21SW 2.00 23743 11734 Macduff House
NO21SW 2.01 23744 11692 Dovecot
A long, narrow, ruinous 17th century house at Auchtermuchty. There is a panel in the gable for a coat-of-arms and an arched entrance gateway to the courtyard, crowned with a sundial which bears the date '1629'. The same date appears on one skew-putt: on the other appears the initials
H M
E G
There is an old dovecot a few yards away.
D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887-92.
No trace of the house was found. Mrs Ness, a resident of Auchtermuchty for 50 years, was unable to identify the illustration.
Visited by OS (D S) 29 October 1956.
Macduff House, at NO 23743 11734, with a dovecot at NO 23744 11692 (17/18th century) may be the house illustrated by MacGibbon and Ross (1887-92) but it is difficult to be certain as it has been considerably altered and modernised. An old sundial has been built into the south wall: on either side are the initials IR and MT, but the date is illegible.
Visited by OS (R D) 31 March 1967.
Publication Account (1981)
MacDuff House situated on the west side of the Cross is undoubtedly the oldest occupied building in Auchtermuchty. Its alleged to largely date from the last decade of the sixteenth century (Cant, 1965, 13) and among many of its features are an arched entrance gateway into a courtyard crowned with a sundial, a skewport chimney, a panel in the gable for a coat of arms and a dovecot in the garden (Anon, n.d., 14-15); MacGibbon and Ross, 1892, v, 44).
Information from ‘Historic Auchtermuchty: The Archaeological Implications of Development’, (1981).
