Gatepiers And Garden Wall, Bighouse

This is a mid-to-later 18th century mansion with alterations and additions from the earlier/mid-19th century and a further west wing added around 1900. It is an austere, two-story building with a raised basement, originally five bays wide, with the centre bay slightly projected and topped by a pediment. A wide bay is advanced to the west, featuring a canted bay window that rises the full height of the building. A large, double-pile rear wing, three stories high with an attic, extends from the main block, with the central portion likely being older than the section to the east. The entire exterior is harled (rough cast) with contrasting, tooled ashlar dressings. The original wide, central doorway is topped by a Gothic fanlight with intersecting glazing, now masked by a later projecting, bowed porch. This porch has side windows and a bowed, piended platform roof, with a corniced entrance detailed with long-short voussoirs and approached by a flight of steps. Tall, narrow windows are set into the ground floor, with smaller windows on the first floor, all linked by a lintel/eaves band. The western bay features bipartites (double windows) on both the ground and first floors. The south front has four-pane glazing, while the rear has twelve-pane glazing. Paired, gabletted dormers rise through the rear wing wallhead. Large, corniced end and ridge stacks rise from the roof, which is covered with slate.

The interior is plain, featuring a stone staircase with moulded risers and a symmetrical original floor plan in the oldest part of the house, along with a central stone staircase.

The garden walls are constructed of coped rubble and enclose the west and north sides of the property, as well as the rear service court and offices. A pair of square, mid-18th century, channelled ashlar gate piers with cornices and square caps are located in the west wall, aligned with a similar pair at the east leading to the walled garden (listed separately).

The property is part of the Strath Halladale estate and was the home of the Mackays of Strath Halladale and Bighouse, a cadet branch of the Lords of Reay. 17th-century memorials to the Mackays of Bighouse are located in Old Reay Burial Ground, Caithness. The house was described as "a modern house" (in 1774) by the Rev. Alexander Pope, Minister of Reay Parish.