Clatt Parish Manse, Kirktown Of Clatt

The Clatt Parish Manse, located in Kirktown of Clatt, likely dates to a reconstruction around 1820, potentially incorporating elements from an earlier manse built in 1725. Subsequent alterations and additions, likely dating from circa 1840-60, introduced Tudorbethan detailing to the porch and gableheads on the south elevation.

The manse is a two-story and attic structure, symmetrical in design with three bays facing south. A projecting porch is centrally positioned, flanked by single windows, with three windows at the first floor level. The centre coped wallhead features a gablet over the skewputts, incorporating a blind slit opening in the gablehead and a ball finial at the apex. The pitched slate roof has a pair of piend-roofed dormer windows with console detailing at the timber window frames, stone skews, and a pair of end stacks. The exterior is harled with exposed droved and chamfered ashlar dressings and margins, an ashlar base course, and a parapet featuring a blind central inscription tablet (the parapet was reharled during the 1991 restoration). The windows are 4-pane sash and case.

The east gable has two windows at ground level and one to the left at the first floor. The west gable is symmetrically designed with paired windows close together at the center of both the ground and first floors.

Inside, the manse retains a mid-19th century staircase with cast-iron balusters. A single-story and attic block extends northward at a right angle to form an L-plan, and is harled with exposed margins and a pitched slate roof, and includes an axial stack.

The west elevation of the rear wing has a wallhead gable to the right, with an attic opening fitted with original timber-louvred shuttering. Two windows at ground level, with a 12-pane sash and case window in the center and a larger 8-pane window on the narrow right-hand side complete the elevation. The east (entrance) elevation mirrors the west.

The north-facing elevation features a 12-pane sash and case window to the right at ground level and a pair of openings with timber-louvred shuttering in the attic. A rectangular walled garden lies to the west and is constructed of granite rubble. The west gateway includes a bolection-moulded lintel and a pair of 1725 skewputts, likely salvaged from the previous manse during the 19th-century reconstruction.

The manse was restored in 1991, including reharling. According to the New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845), the manse was originally built in 1725 and underwent repair and expansion in 1820. Ordnance Survey Namebooks (1865-71) describe it as a “plain, old-fashioned dwelling house” built for the parish minister, with attached offices, a garden, and ornamental grounds.