Gardeners' Bothy, Culloden House

Culloden House is a classical astylar double-pile mansion built circa 1788, comprising a central block of two storeys and mansard attic over a raised basement, linked to lower pavilions by single-storey quadrants. Each outer pavilion is also two storeys over a raised basement.

The rusticated ashlar raised basement and groins are surmounted by cherry-caulked red rubble with contrasting polished sandstone dressings; the flanks are harl-pointed. The southwest entrance front features a slightly advanced and pedimented centre bay with a coat of arms and military accoutrements in the tympanum above a door flanked by engaged Roman Doric columns with an open pediment. A triglyph and rosette frieze continues over side windows with balustraded aprons, all set in a shallow recessed panel. The 1st floor Venetian window displays Ionic order, and a delicate fanlight crowns the entrance. Paired end stacks sit on shaped gables, with a mansarded slated attic fitted with dormers behind a balustrade. The outer pavilions have simple wallhead cornices and blocking courses linked by single-storey quadrants, each with a centre door set in a shallow round-headed recess flanked by blind Roman Doric screens; corniced wallheads are topped with paired urns.

The northeast garden front presents a simplified pedimented elevation with a swagged coat of arms in the tympanum. This is linked to the outer pavilions by single-storey quadrants, each with entrances flanked by niches housing full-size classical statues. The pavilions feature simple centre Venetian windows with blind side lights. Throughout, multi-pane sash and case windows light the building, with piended slate roofs covering the main block and platformed slate roofs over the pavilions. Brick screen walls extend from the pavilions, masking inner service courts and featuring ashlar long-short rusticated arches.

The interior displays ornate Adamesque decoration. An entrance lobby contains an arched columned screen leading to a barrel-vaulted cross-passage. The drawing room features a carved marble Adamesque chimneypiece, panelled doors with corniced and decorated doorpieces, and a decorated plaster cornice with ceiling and mural roundels of classical scenes suspended from swags. The dining room is framed by engaged columns with decorative necking and composite capitals that frame a buffet recess; the doorcases and chimneypiece mirror those in the drawing room. A long curved staircase opens from the cross-passage.

A pair of square rusticated polished ashlar gate-piers, also of circa 1788, feature corniced and shaped caps supporting lead urns.

The Gardeners' Bothy, dating to circa 1788, is a simple two-storey, three-bay brick dwelling with polished ashlar dressings and rusticated quoins. Steps to a loft are positioned at the south gable. A centre door serves the main entry, with low loft windows in the outer bays only. The rear (west) elevation has a pair of ground-floor windows with a centre oculus in the 1st floor. Coped end stacks support a slate roof.

The house was probably built for Arthur Forbes, 7th of Culloden, incorporating fragments of an earlier mansion at basement level. Four statues occupy the niches in the northeast elevation, representing Zenobia, Odenatus, Cato, and Scipio.