Cottage at Former Roman Catholic Seminary, Scalan, Braes of Glenlivet

This is a Grade A listed building comprising a former Roman Catholic Seminary built in 1767, with the first floor and attic raised in 1787–8, together with a late 18th-century cottage and a roofless outbuilding. The buildings form a U-shaped court.

The Seminary is a 2-storey, 4-bay structure of rectangular plan, built of rubble stone and lime harled. The principal west elevation features irregular window openings and a central 2-leaf timber door, above which sits a small rectangular recess, probably a blocked window from the original 1767 building. The first-floor windows are slightly larger than those on the ground floor. The north gable has a first-floor door providing access to the chapel; the external stair that once served this entrance no longer survives. The windows are predominantly laid-pane glazing in timber frames. The roof is covered with Tomintoul slates and has straight skews with tooled granite ridge and end chimney stacks. Two late 18th-century single-storey lean-to extensions are located at the rear elevation.

The interior, inspected in 2016, was restored in the 1990s to return the layout to that of the 18th-century seminary. Most internal walls are finished in pointed rubble stone, though some areas retain plaster and old wallpaper. Doors are panelled. The ground floor has stone flags; the first and attic floors are timber. A first-floor chapel at the north end contains a small timber altar. Stone fireplaces are present at ground and first-floor levels on the end walls.

The single-storey cottage to the right of the seminary dates to the late 18th century and is built of rubble laid in shallow courses with harl pointing. The south elevation, which serves as the entrance front, has three bays with a later central lean-to porch. A 2-bay extension runs along the east gable. The north rear elevation has a single central window. The roof has been replaced with corrugated asbestos sheeting, with straight skews and chimney stacks to the gables. The interior of the cottage was not inspected in 2016.

Historical Context

Scalan is an important ecclesiastical site in Scotland, renowned for its critical role in preserving Roman Catholic faith and worship during the 18th century. The Seminary and Cottage were deliberately designed to resemble a farmhouse so as to blend inconspicuously into the moorland landscape of scattered crofts and farmsteads. Roman Catholicism had been outlawed following the Scottish Reformation in 1560, with its practice theoretically punishable by deportation. The Braes of Glenlivet proved sufficiently isolated and remote to shelter Catholics. Founded by Bishop James Gordon, the seminary operated from 1716 to 1799 and trained approximately 100 Catholic priests, also serving as an administrative centre for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland.

The seminary was first established in 1716 in a small cottage. On several occasions in the 1720s, pupils and staff were forced into hiding due to government troop presence in the area. In 1746, following the Battle of Culloden, the Duke of Cumberland led troops who burned the cottage to the ground.

According to Dean and Taitt's 1995 article 'Scalan Reconstructed: Architectural and Documentary Evidence', the walls were heightened in 1787–8 to provide a larger first floor and tall attic space. The blocked opening above the door and larger first-floor windows mark this construction phase. The small rear lean-to extensions, likely added at this time, were used respectively as a chapel and kitchen. A first-floor chapel at the north end could also be accessed directly from outside via an external stair, now disappeared.

The seminary closed in 1799 when repeal of the Penal Laws made it feasible to establish a larger and more visible seminary. It transferred to Aquhorthies near Inverurie in 1799 and subsequently to Blairs College near Aberdeen in 1829. Following closure, the building became a farmhouse and additional agricultural structures, including two mills, were constructed. Abbé Paul MacPherson established the nearby town of Chapeltown, where a Catholic parish church was built.

The building remains largely externally unaltered since the first floor was raised in 1787–8. It forms an important component of a remote group of informally arranged agricultural buildings that, together with the North Mill and the South Mill, evidence the historical, social and agricultural development of Scalan from the 18th century to the early 20th century. The category of listing was changed from B to A on 9 November 1987.