10 and 11 South Street, Aberchirder

10 and 11 South Street, Aberchirder

This early 19th-century two-storey detached house stands at the southern end of South Street in Aberchirder, fronting the road with three bays. It is built in squared and coursed stugged granite with granite dressings.

The principal south-facing elevation has a central door flanked by two windows at ground floor, with three windows at first floor positioned close to the roof eaves. The west gable elevation contains a door opening to the right at ground floor and a single first-floor window to the left. The east gable elevation features a single window to the left of ground floor and a single first-floor window to the right.

The rear north elevation displays a double-height squared extension with a stone staircase leading to a first-floor entrance, both likely added around the mid-20th century. The roof is slated with solar panels covering the south-eastern pitch, ashlar coped skews, rubble stacks with circular clay cans and thackstanes. The windows are now uPVC. The interior largely dates to the later 20th and early 21st centuries.

The house is enclosed by rubble boundary walls with rubble coping stones, while a low rendered boundary wall is attached to the west gable at the street elevation.

Historical Development

Aberchirder was founded as a planned village by Alexander Gordon of Auchintoul in 1764, replacing the former hamlet of Foggieloan. It was acquired by John Morison of Bognie in 1799 and gradually developed through the 19th century. The village was established to encourage trade and industry in this remote area of northeast Scotland, with landowners advertising in local newspapers to attract tradesmen and skilled artisans, as reported in the Huntly Express in July 1864.

The original 18th-century layout followed a grid plan centred on a square with three parallel streets: Main Street (originally Mid Street) forming the principal road, flanked by Back Street (later North Street) and Front Street (later South Street), connected by perpendicular lanes. An 1799 drawing shows the first houses were built around the square and facing Main Street.

South Street was laid out in 1808 following John Morison's instructions as a new turnpike road between Huntly and Banff. This house appears to have been built shortly after and is shown on the Ordnance Survey six-inch first edition map (surveyed 1866, published 1871), at which time only the north side of South Street was occupied by housing. The town was renamed Aberchirder in 1823, a change reflected on Butterworth's Map of 1826.

A small rectangular structure once stood in the back garden but had disappeared by the Ordnance Survey six-inch second edition map (revised 1902, published 1905). The back garden remained undeveloped until the 1960s. According to the Ordnance Survey map of 1965 (published 1966), a rear squared extension and a single-storey extension on the west elevation were built at this time, along with semi-detached houses on the adjacent plot. The interior was later converted into two flats, with one accessed from the front door and the second from the first-floor rear entrance.

Four-pane sash windows (visible in 1980s photographs) were replaced with non-traditional glazing in the late 20th or early 21st century. The single-storey west extension was removed between 2015 and 2021, and solar panels were added to the south-eastern roof pitch around 2022.