Dunecht House: A Scottish Country House and Estate in Aberdeenshire
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- British
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page13 sections
History
Dunecht House is a country house in Scotland, United Kingdom, near Westhill, developed from an 1820 mansion in a Grecian-inspired style. Its estate preserves the architectural and landscape work of several generations, and the house is protected as a Category A listed building, a designation for structures of special architectural or historic interest considered nationally important in Scotland.
From Echt to the Forbes mansion
The barony of Echt belonged to the Forbes family from 1469. An earlier mansion called Housedale was built in 1705 slightly south-west of the present house. In 1820, William Forbes commissioned John Smith, Aberdeen City Architect, to design a replacement. The new granite building had two storeys, a full basement, and three principal reception rooms.
The Crawford enlargement
Dunecht House and its estate were sold in 1845 to the 24th Earl of Crawford for £117,000. His principal family residence was Haigh Hall in Lancashire, but Dunecht was extensively enlarged under the direction of his eldest son, who became the 25th Earl of Crawford in 1869. Between 1855 and 1859, William Smith, John Smith’s son, added major parts to the building.
Further internal renovation took place around 1867 under George Edmund Street, a prominent nineteenth-century English architect. Street was also commissioned to add a chapel and a library. The house hosted the family’s annual ball in October 1871, attended by the Gordons of Cluny Castle, the Abercrombies of Forglen House, the Irvines of Drum Castle, and other north-east Scottish dignitaries.
In early November 1872, a fire damaged the four-storey north-west wing, which contained servants’ quarters. The same year, the 26th Earl of Crawford built an observatory on the estate. In 1888, James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, presented his extensive library and the observatory’s contents to the nation on the condition that the government build a new Royal Observatory in Edinburgh instead of closing the existing institution after Charles Piazzi Smyth resigned as Astronomer Royal for Scotland, the official responsible for directing the national astronomical observatory.
After Alexander, 25th Earl of Crawford, died in 1880, his body was stolen in 1881 from a burial vault in the private chapel. It was recovered near a gravel pit close to the house on 18 July 1882 and later reburied in the family vault at Haigh Hall.
Pirie and Cowdray ownership
The estate was offered for sale in 1886 but remained unsold until A. C. Pirie bought it in 1900. He added a conservatory and dining room, commissioned further work on estate buildings, and redeveloped the settlement of Dunecht, formerly called Waterton.
In 1907, the mansion was leased to Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, and his wife Annie, Viscountess Cowdray. A viscount is a British aristocratic title, while the ordinal number distinguishes successive holders of the same title. Lord Cowdray purchased the estate in 1912 and commissioned major extensions through 1920. Internal alterations began in 1924, and his son, the 2nd Viscount Cowdray, continued the work until it was completed around 1932.
Many trees on the estate were destroyed by a storm in 1953. The house remained unoccupied from 1998 while staying in private ownership. Its former eight-bell chime was sold in 1996, and since 1999 the bells have served at St Mary’s Church in Haddington, East Lothian. The property was marketed for sale in 2012 and purchased by Jamie Oag, owner of Spex Group and founder of Optima.
The gardens and designed landscape were entered in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland in 1987. This inventory records deliberately planned gardens and estate landscapes judged to have national significance. The Tower Lodges and gates at the Loch of Skene have Category A protection, while several other structures on the estate have Category B status.
Remains
The mansion
Original house
The earliest surviving phase of the present mansion is the granite house commissioned in 1820. It was built with two storeys above a full basement and contained three principal reception rooms. Its Grecian-inspired design formed the core around which later owners expanded and refashioned the building.
Victorian extensions
The first major additions projected west from the earlier house. They included a prominent four-storey Italianate tower rising above the two-storey mansion, canted bays on two gables, and large reception rooms. Italianate architecture adapts forms associated with Italian Renaissance and later Italian buildings. Later additions introduced historicist elements in neo-Romanesque and Italianate forms, while the earlier part of the house received a galleried staircase, a stairway associated with an upper gallery or overlooking landing, and other refurbishments.
Entrances and later interiors
A Doric porte-cochère was added at the entrance. This covered vehicle entrance is also described as having subsequently been removed. During A. C. Pirie’s ownership, a conservatory and dining room formed part of the later changes to the house, while the winter garden or conservatory is described as having later been demolished.
Gardens and estate structures
Formal gardens
Formal gardens extend west and south of the mansion. George Bennet Mitchell was commissioned to redesign them during A. C. Pirie’s ownership. In the early twentieth century, Aston Webb designed two large terraces, adding a substantial planned structure to the gardens around the house.
Observatory and bells
The estate observatory was built in 1872. The mansion’s tower formerly held a chime of eight bells made by John Warner and Sons. The bells were later removed and sold, and since 1999 they have been in service at St Mary’s Church in Haddington.
Tower Lodges and gateway
The Tower Lodges stand approximately three kilometres east of the mansion on the north shore of the Loch of Skene. Completed in 1923 to designs by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, they resemble traditional Scottish tower houses. Each group incorporates four-storey towers, projecting crenellated parapets, and rounded stair towers.
A monumental gateway with tall wrought-iron leaves extends between the Tower Lodges. The associated gates and the Loch of Skene boathouse form part of the protected estate group, alongside the lodges and their architectural features.
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