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Ruigh-aiteachain
Bothy (20th Century) (1969), Hunting Lodge (19th Century), Hut(S) (19th Century)
Site Name Ruigh-aiteachain
Classification Bothy (20th Century) (1969), Hunting Lodge (19th Century), Hut(S) (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Georgina; The Island; Ruigh Aiteachain; Landseer's Bothy
Canmore ID 81420
Site Number NN89SW 2
NGR NN 8465 9277
NGR Description Centre NN 8465 9277
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/81420
- Council Highland
- Parish Alvie
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Badenoch And Strathspey
- Former County Inverness-shire
NN89SW 2 846 928
The 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1872, sheet cxviii) depicts a farmstead, comprising ten buildings and an enclosure with a further building detatched to the S, on the E side of the River Feshie.
Information from RCAHMS (P McK) 5 January 1995.
An unroofed bothy or shed, lying to the SE of the refurbished bothy at Ruigh-aiteachain, was noted during a pre-afforestation survey by J Wordsworth.
J Wordsworth 1996; NMRS MS 961/2
Note (1876)
'Ruigh-Aiteachain - Applied to a number of houses situated in Glen Feshie, they are one storey high and partly of wood, those built of stone are thatched, the whole in good repair. Property of Sir G.M. Grant. The name signifies the Shielings of the [Juniper Bush]'.
ONB Invernessshire Book 30 (1876-8), p.30
Note (6 July 2022)
NN89SW 2 NN 84700 92797
The bothy at Ruigh Aiteachain lies about 4.9km S of the end of the public road along the E side of Glen Feshie, and about 700m across the river from Glenfeshie Lodge (NN89SW 1). The bothy occupies a 19th century building that was formerly part of a group of ten roofed buildings and two enclosures depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire, sheet cxviii, 1872). The group was described at the time as ‘a number of houses situated in Glen Feshie, they are one storey high and partly of wood, those built of stone are thatched, the whole in good repair. Property of Sir G M Grant.’ (OS Name Book, Inverness-shire, Book 6, p.30). By 1899, when the OS map was revised, the settlement had contracted to four roofed buildings and five enclosures, with the building now in use as the bothy having a garden enclosure attached to its S side (Inverness-shire, cxviii, 1902).
The site at Ruigh-Aiteachain was a shooting lodge from about 1830, and is directly comparable with another at Ruigh-Fionntaig about 800m further up the glen and on the W side of the river (NN89SW 3). Ruigh-Aiteachain is closely associated with Lady Georgina Gordon, Duchess of Bedford (1781-1853) and one of her closest friends Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873).
The bothy was used by the Army during World War II and adopted by the Mountain Bothies Association in 1969. It has recently been refurbished by the owner, Anders Polvsen (The Scotsman, 15 January 2023).
It is depicted as a roofed building and labelled ‘Bothy’ on the current edition of the OS (GIS) Mastermap.
Information from HES Archaeological Survey (D M Bratt and G Geddes) 6 July 2022
(Allan 2017, 188-91)
