Invercharron House

Invercharron House is an 18th-century house that has undergone extensive alterations and additions over time. The original house, dating back to the early 18th century, was a rectangular dwelling house with gable ends containing chimneys and two storeys, with a cellar beneath part of it. This original section now forms the western wing. An early eastward extension, initially used as byres, was altered in the mid-18th century to create a five-bay south-facing front. A later south entrance tower was partially removed in 1935 and completely in 1962, when a concrete balcony with plain iron railings was added in the centre.

Around 1800, an east-facing bow was added to the east wing, creating rooms of grander proportions, as indicated by the height of the first-floor windows. This wing was then modified with a matching bowed wing, likely in the late 1860s, but possibly as late as 1882, when rear additions were also made. Alexander Ross, an architect from Inverness, is associated with this later phase.

The south facade has irregular window placement. A first-floor window in the centre rises through the wallhead under a crow-stepped gablet added in 1935, designed to balance the two first-floor windows on either side. Earlier, more ornate gable designs from 1882 or earlier were simplified in 1935. A re-used early 19th-century double-leaf panelled door is found in the south entrance. The north entrance front is also irregular, with two separate entrances. Corniced end and ridge stacks are present, along with crowsteps and a slate roof.

The property is approached by a pair of later 19th-century circular ashlar gate piers with conical caps, and a pair of decorative cast-iron carriage gates, flanked by low, coped retaining walls with matching cast-iron railings. A marriage stone dated 1732 is re-used in one lintel on the south front. Invercharron was described as “a gentleman's house” in 1840, when it was occupied by a sheep farmer. The house was the home of the Ross family, before being acquired in the late 1860s by Mr W Littlejohn, and subsequently by Mr E Willis-Fleming, who carried out internal alterations, as did the present owners.