Gledfield House

Gledfield House is a large house and mansion dating to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with substantial additions made in 1895 and 1907 by the architects Ross and Macbeth. The house is mainly two storeys and has an attic, set above a raised basement. The exterior is pink harled, with tooled ashlar margins.

The south elevation showcases the original central three-bay block, a two-storey and attic structure which is the focal point, accessed by a flight of steps. The entrance has a doorpiece and glazed door which are from later alterations. A slightly advanced central bay features a shaped gable and a stack at the apex; flanking the ground floor are tripartite windows. This central block is flanked by two-storey sections with wide, bowed bays, each with three windows on the ground floor and first-floor tripartite windows rising into piended dormers. The west gable of the western bay has a shaped gable.

An additional ballroom, likely built in 1907, extends from the east gable. It is a single-storey structure over a raised basement, featuring a wide single bay with a simple Venetian window under a shaped and finialled gable. The east elevation of the ballroom has a wide, shallow bow with three windows to the ground and basement levels.

Extensive east-facing additions extend to the rear, varying in height, with further bowed bays, tripartite windows, and piended dormers. The rear elevation of this wing largely accommodates service areas, with irregular window placement and three small piended dormers.

The house has 12-pane sash windows. Slate roofs are topped with corniced end and ridge stacks.

The interior retains elements of the original late 18th-century layout, though it has been extensively altered. Notable features include very fine Adamesque plaster ceilings and cornices in the drawing room, dining room, and ballroom, as well as dados and fine fireplaces, all dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A late 19th-century staircase is also present.

A walled garden lies to the west of the house, enclosed by an ashlar-coped rubble wall. Within the wall stands a late 19th/early 20th-century shallow classical temple-fronted loggia with polished ashlar construction. It has a wide pediment above a deep entablature supported by four Ionic columns; a crested oval medallion in the centre of the pediment displays the Matheson arms.

Gledfield was described as a "gentleman's residence" as early as 1840 and was purchased by Sir Alexander Matheson of Ardross in 1847. A photograph of the house before the 1895 alterations is held by the current owner. Tenders for the 1895 and 1907 additions were advertised in the Inverness Courier.