Bridge, Gate Lodge, Ardverikie House

The gate lodge, bridge, and gate piers form part of the wider landscape setting of Ardverikie House. The lodge was designed by John Rhind around 1874 to 1878. It is a rectangular building with a turret, built over a raised basement, and appears to have been constructed shortly after the remodelling of Ardverikie House itself, with the bridge being in place by the turn of the century.

The lodge is constructed of coursed, tooled grey granite with contrasting tooled ashlar dressings. A projecting, round stair turret is located at the north-east angle and has a bellcast conical slate roof. The main entrance is situated in a re-entrant angle formed by the turret and is sheltered by a slatted canopy supported on elaborately carved wooden brackets. A segmentally arched bench recess is centred beneath the canopy, and a plank door is fitted with decorative cast-iron hinges. A second entrance is located on the east elevation, at basement level. The western gable, facing the driveway, has a tripartite window on the raised ground floor and a bipartite window on the first floor, both with two-pane glazing. Off-set lancet windows surround the stair turret. A coped wallhead stack and slate roof with projecting eaves complete the exterior.

The gate piers are a pair of tall, square, tooled grey granite piers, rising from battered plinths. They have bracketted ashlar cornices that support pyramid-shaped finials. A pair of case and wrought-iron carriage gates are set between the piers. The bridge is a simple flat-arched structure supported by rubble end abutments and featuring a cast-iron lattice girder balustrade.

Historically, before the construction of the bridge, horses and carriages were left at Cromra on the north shore of Loch Laggan, opposite Ardverikie, and the final leg of the journey was completed by boat. John Rhind died in 1889.