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Kair House
Country House (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Kair House
Classification Country House (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) House Of Kairs; House Of Kair
Canmore ID 77733
Site Number NO77NE 56
NGR NO 76876 76511
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/77733
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Arbuthnott
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO77NE 56.00 76876 76511
NO77NE 56.01 76345 75719 Kair Lodge
NO77NE 56.02 76967 76795 Mains of Kair
Listed.
Scottish Castle Survey 1988; N Bogdan and I B D Bryce 1991.
Kair House is situated on a slight slope on an S-facing slope at an altitude of 95m OD. It is a classic early 19th century mansion house of two-storeyed, pedimented form built in ashlar and slate, with a Greek doric portico and single-storey wings.
NMRS, MS/712/36.
Watching Brief (April 2004)
NO 7688 7651 (centre) Kair House is located within the perimeter of a 120 acre Roman marching camp, believed to be of Severan date. An underground electricity cable was to be installed to run from Kair House across a field to the N, on a SSW-NNE alignment. A watching brief in April 2004 located a large cut feature 35m NNE of Kair House, apparently containing within it the tumbled remains of an earth bank with a drystone facing. A trench was excavated into these features and exposed what appeared to be a ditch, 4.5m across and 1.45m deep, with a U-shaped profile, partially backfilled with random whinstone rubble. No artefacts were recovered, but soil samples were taken.
The location of the ditch within the camp perimeter tends against regarding it as a part of the Roman defences, and it was thought more likely that this represented a ha-ha associated with Kair House. However, radiocarbon dating of a sample taken from the primary fill of the ditch suggests a calibrated date of AD 1250 (95.4% probability). The possibility of a previously unknown medieval structure having existed on the site, perhaps a moated house, must therefore be given serious consideration.
Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.
Sponsor: Scottish & Southern Energy plc.
C Fyles 2004
