Kilmichael Of Inverlussa, North Knapdale Manse

The former manse of North Knapdale parish stands 200m from the E shore of Loch Sween on the N bank of the Lussa River, at the foot of a steep slope surmounted, l00m to the E, by the parish church at Kilmichael (No. 71). It replaced an earlier manse situated a few metres closer to the slope. The existing walled garden to the SE was associated with this earlier manse, and traces of buildings can be seen at its N angle (en.1*).

The rebuilding of the manse was agreed upon in 1817, when a plan by Donald McDougall, 'architect from the parish of Craignish', was accepted, but the start of work was delayed by discussion of the exact siting of the building. The contractor was George Johnston, mason, in partnership with Alexander Campbell, carpenter, both from Mid Calder. Work was completed in 1820 when it was reported that the carpenter-work in particular far exceeded the specified standard (en.2).

The building measures 14.3m by 8.7m over all, with flanking pavilions recessed 3m from the front wall. It is of two storeys, with garrets, and has a three-bay W front with a central gablet containing a small round-headed window; the square hip-roofed central porch is probably original, and the single-storeyed pavilions are also hip-roofed. The masonry is harled and whitewashed, and the sash-and-case windows have projecting sills but no other identifiable dressings. The roofs are slated, with two large modern dormers, and the gable chimneystacks have projecting copings.

The entrance-hall leads to a geometrical stone stair with timber handrail on plain square iron balusters, flanked by a single room on the N and two rooms to the S, the one to the SE being a modernised kitchen. The arrangement of the first f loor is similar, with a central dressing-room above the entrance-hall. The original stair continues to the garrets, but these have been altered during the present century. Most of the rooms retain original moulded skirtings and chair-rails, door- and window-architraves with six-panelled fielded doors and shutters, and moulded plaster ceiling-cornices. Considerable variation is shown, especially in the architrave mouldings. In the SE ground-floor room there is a simple timber chimneypiece, and in the large N room of the first floor there is one with reeded jambs and lintel, and roundels above the jambs.

The N ground-floor room, which was evidently the principal public room, has at the E an elliptical timber arch leading into the recess of a window, flanked on the S by a closet door and on the N by the door of a passage into the N pavilion. At the date of visit redecoration was in progress and remains of an original scheme of trompe l'oeil painted decoration were exposed in the ingoes of the window. These comprised a wood-grained dado, with panels outlined in black, and a chair-rail imitating the moulded timber chair-rail of the room; the skirting-board, however, is of timber.

The flanking pavilions are original, but have been entirely renovated. It is probable that the N pavilion was an office or study and the S one a kitchen, and the latter communicates with a short range running E, which includes a former wine cellar. A late 19th-century addition against the E wall of the house includes a pantry on the ground floor and bathrooms above. It extends into a cobbled yard which is. bounded on the N by an early 19th-century steading about 30m from E to W by 6m over all and containing a barn with ventilation slits, a cobbled byre, and stables with a pigeon-loft above. A transverse W wing, including a former privy, is probably the 'cart-shed, potato house and bog' for which an estimate was produced by Donald MacDougall in 1818 (en.3).

RCAHMS 1992, visited June 1988