Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

KEISS CASTLE, WALLED GARDEN GATE LODGE AND GATEPIERSLB18445

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
13/04/1971
Local Authority
Highland
Planning Authority
Highland
Parish
Wick
NGR
ND 35567 61750
Coordinates
335567, 961750

Description

1755, 3-storey, 5-bay house extended and altered by David

Bryce, 1860 to form mainly 3-storey, L-plan Baronial mansion.

All harled with ashlar dressings and margins.

Principal entrance in west angle of broad SW 1860 wing,

round-headed and cabled moulded with long architraved window

above, with panels above and below. SW wing rises to

4-storey, square corbelled and crenellated tower with cannon

spouts, and angle corbelled stair turret rising above

wallhead with ogee roof and weather vane. 1860 angle

bartizans with fish-scale slated conical roofs corbelled out

in upper storey each side of 1755 west gable. SE elevation

has long 1st floor tripartite (lighting drawing room) with 2

pedimented dormers breaking wallhead above.

Mainly 12-pane glazing; string course; margined and coped end

and ridge stacks; slate roofs.

Interior; principal public rooms in 1860 Bryce wing, situated

on 1st floor and reached by imposing stair case with pendant

newel and barley-sugar twist balusters. Panelled window

shutters, doors and moulded doorpieces, together with marble

chimney pieces, survive from 1860. Decorative moulded ceiling

cornices. Extensive single and 2-storey service ranges to

rear forming U-plan service court close at NW by rubble wall

and square rubble gate piers.

Walled garden; coped rubble walled garden to NE of house

with angle turret with conical roof.

Gate Lodge and Gate piers; David Bryce, dated 1860. Simple

single storey gabled gate lodge. Rubble, tooled dressings.

Gabled porch in north facing re-entrant angle with plank door

with ornate cast-iron hinges; renewed 2-pane glazing;

crowsteps; coped stacks; slate roof. Modern single storey,

single bay addition to rear (south).

High coped quadrant walls, rubble with dressed copes;

terminal piers with shallow pyramidal caps. Renewed pair

simple gate piers; pair cast-iron carriage gates; decorative

cast-iron matching spearhead railings.

Statement of Special Interest

"An excellent mansion house" (1813) Plaque on W side of house

reads "Aedificata 1755 Restituta 1860" Additions commissioned

by Col. K. Macleay whose monogram is above the main entrance,

and whose initials are inscribed on the gate lodge. Property

purchased by Duke of Portland 1866. Old Keiss Castle a

scheduled monument.

References

Bibliography

Nicholas Carlisle, A TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF SCOTLAND, ii

(1813) (no page numbers). Groome's GAZETTEER OF SCOTLAND, iv,

(1885) p.339. National Monuments Record of Scotland.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 22:38