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Summary

Description

Probably 1730-40 wing of earlier mansion/tower house

apparently re-modelled 1795-1800 as principal dwelling after

fire. 2-storey, 5-bay house incorporating drumtower of

earlier dwelling at rear and walled garden; free standing

2-storey range at right angles to main house.

HOUSE: harled rubble, some ashlar dressings. Centre entrance

with moulded doorpiece under re-used (1693) armorial;

rectangular fanlight with decorative glazing and original

glass; double-leaf door, the present flush facing probably

masking panlling. Slightly irregular window pattern;

single window each side of doorway, 5 1st floor windows.

Irregular rear fenestration with one 1st floor window

blocked (originally lighting former parlour) and new ground

floor window. 2-storey circular drum tower at SE angle

incorporated from earlier (? tower) house. Mainly 12-pane

glazing, 9-pane in drum tower. Coped end and rear wallhead

stacks; Banffshire slate roof.

Later single storey, 2-bay kitchen wing at N gable.

INTERIOR: centre staircase in semi-circular stairwell with

plain wooden balustrade; ground and 1st floor rooms served

by long front corridors; former parlour at N (now divided)

with circa 1820 white marble chimneypiece with reeded

panelling and anthemion decoration. Simple moulded ceiling

cornice survives in corridor; raised and fielded panelled

doors and window shutters. Ground floor passage with mural

cupboard with panelled doors.

WALLED GARDEN: substantial rear rubble walled garden linked

to rear house with brick lined S aspect. Entrances each

side of house and in centre of S wall, pedestrian entrance

to garden flanking N gable of house closed with re-used

studded plank door with blacksmith wrought-iron handle and

heart shaped brackets.

OUTSIDE RANGE OF BUILDINGS: mainly 2-storey range at right

angles to house on N side of garden. Of varying builds

dating from circa 1800 or earlier. Rubble, some harling.

Centre, earliest building is 3-bay house with tooled ashlar

margins. Blocked 1st floor centre window; 16-pane glazing in

surviving 1st floor windows, varied glazing elsewhere.

Single storey former detached kitchen abuts E gable of house;

2-storey, 2-bay gig house continuous at W gable with

brick-faced segmental-headed gig house entrance and 2

1st floor windows.

Coped end stacks; Banffshire slate roofs throughout.

GATEPIERS: pair low square rubble gatepiers with shaped caps.

Statement of Special Interest

Birkenbog the home of the Abercrombie(y) family of

Birkenbog. In 1790-1 it was recorded that 'Sir George

Abercrombie has pulled down the old family seat and has not

yet re-built it' after destruction by fire in

1790. The drum tower at the rear was obviously part of

this 'old family seat'; so too may have been the studded

plank door closing the N entrance to the walled garden.

Re-set armorial bears the Abercrombie arms, the motto

'Merci is my desir' and the date 1693. It is said to have

come from Glassaugh (also Abercrombie).

The plan form of present house is early rather than late

18th century and may, like the more obvious drum tower,

have been a wing of the earlier mansion. As the

Abercrombies of Birkenbog inherited Forglen, near

Turriff in 1803, there was no need for a large family

mansion at Birkenbog after that date and the rehabilitation of

surviving ranges sufficed.

Double leaf panelled front door noted circa 1975 and now

possibly masked by present flush facing.

Ground floor passage mural cupboard (original to house)

similar to one at Mains of Baldavie (early-mid 18th

century), Boyndie Parish. The farm buildings, divided from

the house by road, are not included in listing.

References

Bibliography

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