Skye, Ord House
House (18th Century)
Site Name Skye, Ord House
Classification House (18th Century)
Canmore ID 99346
Site Number NG61SW 65
NGR NG 61755 13400
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/99346
- Council Highland
- Parish Sleat
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Skye And Lochalsh
- Former County Inverness-shire
Ord House, c.1750 One of the best-sited gentry houses in Skye, thought to have been built for Charles Macdonald, who was 'outed' after the '45. It stands gable end on to the prevailing winds and the 'wild fringe of the Cuchullins', high above Loch Eishort. The bi-partite windows and porch (formerly iron-crested) were added about 1860. To the rear stood the former 'black kitchen' - 'the most picturesque apartment in the house … walls and rafters were black with peat smoke' - which after nightfall, often did duty as an 'ample ballroom'. In the old walled garden, the Ord Cabbage Tree, a doughty old palm, still thrives.
[Ord House is best known for its central role in Alexander Smith's 'A Summer in Skye', (1865), when the redoutable Mr McIan was proprietor. Near its old oakwoods, scattered along the shore, stood a 'whole colony of turf-huts, with films of blue smoke issuing from each', now replaced by a cluster of holiday chalets.]
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
External Reference (2011)
Charles MacEachainn MacDonald was the father of Dr Alexander MacEachainn, who became Tacksman of Ord in 1790. Originally a farmhouse and steading with several cottars and farm workers houses, it is thought to have been rebuilt in c. 1810, at the same time that the manse in Kilmore was built. Ord House is best known for its portrayal in Alexander Smith's book 'A Summer in Skye' (1865).
The house was the first house in Skye to have a fixed bath and cold running water. This bath was made of lead and continued in use until 1950. The garden is well known for its 'Ord Palm', a Cordyline Australis palm tree. The original seeds were sent to Ord in about 1863 by one of Charles MacDonald's tenants whom he had helped to emigrate to Australia. Ord House has been through many guises: a hotel, a holiday home, a B&B, and is currently (2011) a private dwelling.
Information from the ARCH Community Timeline course, 2011
