Kinnell House

Kinnell House is a former seat of the Macnab clan. It likely contains fabric dating to around 1580, though its present form—a 2-storey house with attic and 5 bays—was probably created in the 18th century. A single-storey wing with attic was added to the east around 1850, with timber bargeboards also likely from this period. A sympathetic single-storey and attic wing was added in 1923. The house is set within the south-eastern wall of a large rectangular walled garden.

The south-east principal elevation features a central advanced single-bay entrance gable with a tall gable stack, flanked by a pair of bays. The left bay has elongated windows to the first floor. The attic floor on the right has a gabled dormer with a bipartite window. Thackstoned gable stacks appear on the south-west and north-east elevations. The north-west elevation has a central 2-bay piended section that breaks the eaves, with a 2-bay section to the left and a recessed blank section to the right, containing only a low ground-floor window.

The building is predominantly white harled, with predominantly timber sash and case windows (6-pane over 6-pane) and a slate roof. Kinnell House is of traditional form with its central projecting gable and has much simple architectural character. Its 5-bay form distinguishes it from other 3-bay houses typical of the district.

The interior is predominantly simple but retains much architectural character, including a timber turnpike staircase and 6-panel timber doors. The library contains a decorative cornice, a timber chimneypiece with reed pilasters and shell motifs, and a central panel reputed to depict Lady Hamilton. This is flanked by timber bookshelves. Facing the windows is a recess supported by classical columns with plaster heads above, which formerly contained a Raeburn painting. These heads may represent figures brought back from Lochearn during a Macnab clan raid. The house has a fine interior overall.

The rectangular walled garden comprises high stone rubble walls with an arched opening in the south-east wall. Running from the house to this opening is a series of terraced lean-to rubble-built buildings with slate roofs. One contains cast-iron heating equipment that heated the vinery and possibly other walls of the garden. A heavily restored late 20th-century lean-to timber vinery glasshouse stands to the far left; only remnants remain of a once-huge Black Hamburg vine brought from Auchlyne in 1832. The walled garden was an important integral part of the estate and unusually retains its heating equipment, though the resultant piping no longer exists.

Kinnell House is part of a group listing that includes the Urn Gatepiers on West Drive, the Kinnell Urn Gatepiers on West Drive, the Lion Gatepiers on West Drive, the Ball Finial Gatepiers on South Drive, Yellow Cottage, Kinnell House Steading, and Kinnell House Ice House.