Bighouse

Bighouse is a mid-to-late 18th century mansion, with alterations and additions dating to the earlier/mid-19th century and a further west wing added around 1900. It is an imposing two-storey building over a raised basement, originally five bays wide, with the central bay slightly projecting and topped with a pediment. A wider section extends to the west, featuring a tall, canted bay window. A large, double-pile rear wing, three storeys high with an attic, extends to the rear; the central portion of this wing is likely older than the part to the east. The entire building is harled, with dressings in tooled ashlar.

The original wide entrance door, featuring a Gothic fanlight with intersecting glazing, is now masked by a later projecting bowed porch with side windows and a bowed, piended platform roof, culminating in a corniced entrance with long-short detailing, approached by a flight of steps. The ground floor windows are tall and narrow, while those on the first floor are smaller and linked by a lintel/eaves band. The western bay features bipartites on both the ground and first floors. The south front has 4-pane glazing, while the rear has 12-pane windows. Gabletted dormers are visible rising through the rear wing’s wallhead. Large, corniced end and ridge stacks rise from the slate roofs.

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

Coped rubble garden walls enclose the west and north sides, including a rear service court and associated offices. A pair of 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 (a separate listed entry).

Bighouse served as the mansion on 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 members of the Bighouse Mackays are located in Old Reay Burial Ground in the parish of Reay, which formerly included Strath Halladale. Described as "a modern house" in 1774 by The Rev. Alexander Pope, Minister of Reay Parish, the building is also referenced in Thomas Pennant’s A Tour in Scotland (1769), Nicholas Carlisle’s A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1813), and the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland (circa 1858).