Inverlochy Castle

Inverlochy Castle is a large, long Baronial mansion built in 1863 to a design by Hesketh of London, with significant additions made in 1891 by T. MacVicar Anderson. The house has an east-facing entrance front and a west-facing garden elevation. It is constructed largely of coursed, bullfaced rubble, with tooled ashlar dressings. The building is mainly two storeys high with an attic, and features a prominent four-storey square tower over a basement at the northeast, topped with an octagonal stair turret rising above the crenellated wallhead. Another, less dominant square tower is incorporated into the asymmetrical composition to the southeast, fronted by the principal entrance and a porte cochere with a groined ceiling initialled “A” for Abinger. A hoodmoulded, pointed-headed entrance is also present in the southeast re-entrant angle of the northeast tower. The fenestration is irregular, and includes one-by-five and one-by-four light, two-storey canted windows with crowstepped gables above. The long west front incorporates canted windows, towers, crowstepped gables, and crenellations. Most windows are fitted with two-pane glazing, and there are corniced ridge stacks. The roofs are slate.

The interior entrance hall, dating from 1891, is ornately decorated with a richly detailed plaster ceiling, featuring a central picture of cherubs and surrounding coats of arms and coronetted detailing. A wide staircase has turned barley-sugar balusters. A drawing room chimney piece, inlaid with marble, was inserted in the 1970s.

The stables, dated 1863, were likely designed by Hesketh, with a later wing, probably by T. MacVicar Anderson (1891). The stable and carriage house block is a symmetrical, north-facing range, consisting of a central two-storey, three-bay portion, and single-storey, three-bay wings set slightly back. It is built of coursed bullfaced rubble with tooled ashlar dressings. A round-headed entrance is recessed, with a further round-headed carriage entrance to the right, featuring a small round-headed loft window above. A modern garage doorway has been inserted into the left-hand block. The windows are round-headed with two-pane glazing, and the whole range has a crenellated wallhead, with dummy angle turrets to the central block. The roofs are shallow piended slate.

The walled garden, dated 1863, is an extensive enclosure with coped rubble walls, extending to the rear (south) of the stable range. The historic estate includes the (old) Inverlochy Castle, designated a Guardianship Monument to the southwest, and Queen Victoria stayed at the (new) Inverlochy Castle in 1873.