Foulis Castle

Foulis Castle

Foulis Castle is a substantial country house now forming an E-plan mansion, with construction dated to 1754, 1777, and 1792, though it incorporates parts of earlier buildings within its north-east and south-east ranges. The house was built on the site of an earlier castle destroyed by fire in the mid-18th century and serves as the seat of Clan Munro.

The building is harled with ashlar dressings and makes extensive use of ashlar sandstone margins. The south-east, north-east, and south-west elevations have been regularised to create symmetrical facades, while the north-west frontage retains elements of the previous building and remains asymmetrical.

The north-west elevation presents the primary E-plan facade, dominated by a projecting central block of four storeys over basement. A wide canted tower rises above the main roof, turning to an elongated octagon. The ground floor contains a pedimented entrance with moulded lugged architraves, approached by a flight of steps that oversail the basement and feature a decorative cast-iron balustrade. Windows throughout have ashlar margins with bracketed cills across all floors, arranged in three canted bays. A datestone reading 1754 is positioned above the third-floor central window. The roof is piended slate with gilded ball finials and incorporates a look-out platform to the south-east. The tower is flanked by lower bays (some with blocked fenestration) and projecting three-bay wings of unequal width. A large service courtyard lies to the north-west of this elevation, enclosed by low two-storey ranges of offices and associated buildings on the south-west and north-east sides. These include two matching pavilions with vaulted ground floors, arched entrances, and forestairs; the left-hand pavilion contains one (possibly two) gun loops and a small barred window. Round-headed archways pierce the courtyard walls to east and west, with the western arch dated 1792. A pair of blind octagonal oculi flank a round-headed main entrance with channelled ashlar surround and moulded imposts, probably dating to circa 1790.

The south-west elevation extends as a long two-storey facade with a dormerless attic over a raised basement. An eleven-bay arrangement includes a slightly advanced and pedimented centre of three bays, which does not align with the rear tower. Full-height canted bays terminate the composition at the east and west gables, each with piended roofs. The corniced entrance is approached by a perron, with a basement door below featuring a Gibbs surround. An original decorative cast-iron balustrade flanks the entrance, accompanied by a pair of cast-iron lamp standards (imported from Edinburgh circa 1970) and a similar lamp projected on brackets above the doorway. The pediment is moulded and bears a coat of arms and a datestone reading 1777, with three decorative terminal stone urns positioned across the roofline.

Throughout the building, multi-pane glazing is employed, some retaining thick mid-18th century astragals. Band and cill courses are moulded. Eaves cornices and moulded skews are present, with margined end and ridge stacks. Roofs are piened slate with gilded ridge ball finials.

The interior contains an elegant cantilevered staircase with turned wood balusters and broken strings; surviving roll-moulded detail suggests the treads were re-used from a previous stair. A stone newel stair in the north-east wing possibly derives from the earlier castle.

The dining room features a simple cornice, probably reappointed in the late 18th century when a canted bay was added with a roll-moulded fireplace surround and a good cast-iron grate of circa 1800 inscribed with the Munro motto "Dread God". A large drawing room of late 18th-century date rises one-and-a-half storeys with a fluted frieze embellished with rosettes and symmetrically placed doors and cupboards; the original chimney piece has been removed. First-floor rooms are predominantly fitted with mid-18th century raised and fielded panelling.

The house contains numerous good cast-iron grates of circa 1800 and two free-standing ornamental cast-iron stoves, one dated 1786 and marked Cooper and Sons. The basement includes a kitchen with many fittings, possibly of late 18th or early 19th-century date. The south-west basement now houses the Clan Museum, displaying wattle and daub partition construction.

The tower in the middle of the north elevation resembles that at Poyntzfield (Resolis, Black Isle), which is also a Munro house.