Guisachan House
Guisachan House
A long abandoned Victorian mansion
Part I
An elegant Victorian mansion built in the 1850s, that entertained famous and influential guests over a period of just fifty years, before it was allowed to deteriorate and become the ruin we see today. This was the third mansion to be built on the estate and possibly occupies the site of the previous house. The first mansion, located elsewhere, was destroyed by Cumberland’s troops in the aftermath of Culloden.
The lands of Guisachan were inherited by William Fraser, second son of Thomas the 4th Lord Lovat, on the death of his father in 1524. The Frasers of Guisachan held the estate for over 300 years until it was sold to Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks in 1854 for £52,000. The Frasers also owned lands on the Black Isle at Culbokie and even after these were sold, the family were still referred to as the Frasers of Culbokie.
Marjoribanks was a wealthy businessman and Liberal politician, sitting in the House of Commons from 1853 until 1881 as MP for Berwick-Upon-Tweed, when he was elevated to the peerage as the 1st Lord Tweedmouth. His father was a senior partner in Coutts Bank but although this passed to his elder brother, he still inherited a substantial fortune from his father. He also acquired considerable wealth of his own purchasing Meux Brewery and from becoming a director of the East India Company.
Marjoribanks had rented the shooting on Guisachan Estate for several years prior to the purchase and from the early days it was obvious his intention was to develope a sporting estate. In later years he admitted it was “simply the game” that induced him to buy Guisachan.
Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks
1st BaronTweedmouth
© National Portrait Gallery
The new Guisachan House was built to replace the old Georgian mansion, along with stables, kennels, deer larders and a variety of outbuildings. Gas, produced from burning coal and wood, supplied the house with light. Later a small hydro scheme introduced electricity into the estate. The estate was further developed to include a farm steading and the model village of Tomich.
Besides the huge amount of money spent on the estate, Marjoribanks also spent vast sums on the mansion house where he and his wife Isabella, and later his son Edward, 2nd Lord Tweedmouth, entertained famous and influential guests over the years. The Duke of York (later George V), Winston Churchill, William Gladstone and the Crown Prince of Japan were just a few who enjoyed stays at Guisachan House. It is said that Churchill learned to drive on the estate while staying as a guest; his aunt Fanny Louise Spencer-Churchill was the wife of Edward Tweedmouth.
The mansion house was designed by architect Alexander Reid (1816-1893) of A & W Reid originally of Elgin but by the 1840s established in Inverness. Described as ‘conventional enough in an austere classical style’ the bay windows, large conservatory and cast iron crestings on the roof greatly enhanced its appearance.
Incorporated on four levels were a well apointed Entrance Hall, an Inner Hall, Dining-room, Boudoir, Drawing-room, Business-room, Library, Banqueting Hall or Ballroom, Conservatory, Gun-room, Schoolroom, 15 Family Bedrooms, 14 Servants’ Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms (however did they manage!!), Kitchen, Serving-room, Scullery, Baking-room, Box-room, large Servants’ Hall, Housekeeper’s Room, Stillroom, Beer Cellar, Larder, Boot, Knife and Lamp Room, large Pantry, 2 Wine Cellars. Close beside the House there was a good Game Larder, a Meat Larder, Cooked Meat Larder, Drying Closet, Coal House, Wood House, Dairy and other Offices, and a short distance away, a very large Venison Larder, with a Ghillies’ Room and a Room for cleaning Guns. Today what appears to be the remains of two larders can be found only yards from the ruin.
No expense was spared on the interior of the house. Guests admired the fantastic collection of Wedgwood china and porcelain on display in rooms furnished and decorated by Wright & Mansfield, leading interior designers of the age. Lord Tweedmouth formed one of the world’s finest collections of Wedgwood at Guisachan. The drawing room, in particular, was a tour-de-force of Jasperware, with plaques incorporated into the chimneypiece, the walls, and the furniture.
In 1868 Marjoribanks’s love of country pursuits and dogs led him to mate a wavy-coated Retriever with a Tweed Water Spaniel producing three pups that became the foundation of the Golden Retriever breed. Guisachan Gatherings are held regularly with owners and their dogs from across the globe coming to honour the breed. The Friends of Guisachan commemorate the founding of the breed with a marker stone close by the ruin, and a life-size bronze statue of a Golden Retriever in Tomich.
Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Lord Tweedmouth, died on the 4th March 1894 aged 73.
Site Information
SHA Site No: 11
Site Status:
Location: NH 2874 2524 Landranger OS 26
Three words: banquets.steer.scam
Period: Modern
Date: 19th Century
Site Owner: Hilton Estate
Open: 24 Hours
Access: Access to grounds, ruin is fenced off for safety
Grade: Easy
Parking: On verges
Notes: Livestock may be present
From Tomich take the fork to Plodda but turn right just before FLS and pony trekking signs. The road, just over 1km long, is narrow and pot holed so drive with care. There is a gate across the road just before the ruin. Please ensure you close it while you are on site and also when you leave. Cattle can sometimes be in the area so keep dogs on leads. Parking is possible on the verges.
Further Reading
Guisachan: A History, Donald Fraser, 1990.
Scotland’s Lost Houses, Ch. 19, Ian Gow, 2006.
The History of the Highland Clearances, P193-194 Alexander Mackenzie, 1883.
The Dark Side of Guisachan, Natural History Blog, Scotty Westfall, 2009.