Redcastle

Redcastle is a fortified house dating to 1641, though incorporating fabric from earlier phases. The building is constructed of rubble with ashlar flush quoins and chamfered margins. It is approximately three storeys high and takes the form of an L-plan, with a higher, square-plan stair tower in the re-entrant angle and a smaller stair tower with a canted south-west angle that is corbelled to square at the third floor. Circular bartizans project from the south angles, and a square caphouse sits above the north-west angle, supported by two rows of individual moulded corbels divided by a continuous quirked edge roll; the parapet of the principal stair tower is similarly supported on corbels.

In 1840, William Burn undertook alterations and additions, including a three-storey block infilling the re-entrant angle of the south jamb and main stair tower, and a plain two-storey addition with crowstepped gables at the north. A single-storey, arcaded loggia, which has since been demolished, once spanned the south front. Other work included the reconstruction of the upper parts of the bartizans, the addition of a circular bartizan at the north-east angle, the general enlargement of windows, and remodelling of the wallhead, now defined by a bold continuous roll moulding. Ground-floor spaces are roofed with stone barrel vaults. The building is currently roofless.

The site of Redcastle occupies the location of the earlier Castle of Edradour, believed to have been constructed in 1179 by David, brother of William the Lion. By the early 17th century, the castle had passed into the possession of the Mackenzie family. Rory Mackenzie succeeded to Redcastle in 1629, and his new fortified house was sacked by the Covenanters in 1649. The property was later sold by the Mackenzies to Grant of Shewghie in 1790, and in 1824 to Colonel Hugh Duncan Baillie of Dochfour, who commissioned Burn’s remodelling.