Description

Circa 1890. Small, free standing, vaulted, rustic wellhead over cistern within wooded area to NW of Rohallion Lodge. Uncut voussoirs frame arched entrance below remains of raised rubble gablet (probably originally forming picturesque rusticated finial effect) leading directly to cistern; semicircular-plan rubble rear wall below conical roof of huge slate slabs.

Statement of Interest

This delightful rustic structure sits within the designed landscape of Rohallion. The rustic style, probably designed by A Duncan, appears in a number of structures throughout the Rohallion and Murthly Castle policies where two gentlemen named Duncan were employed as Estate Clerks of Works during the 19th and 20th centuries. Water from the well inside this (the top) cistern fed the new water supply (in use by 1891) to Rohallion Lodge. The system was controlled by a valve situated close to Queen Victoria's Seat in the Lodge garden. The remains of a similar structure are visible below the Lodge opposite the old stable building. Rohallion Lodge (listed separately) was built by Sir William Drummond Stewart of Murthly Estate upon his return to Scotland after some years spent in America. The landscape included a Buffalo Park, where the animals could roam freely, and a separately listed Buffalo Hut, to house Native Americans. The rustic exterior of this wellhead, is more akin to a grotto entrance, exhibiting a cave mouth type opening as at Bealachanuaran, Inverarary which covers a hillside spring, or the former Hermitage above the Falls of Acharn. Just a short distance to the west is a rectangular rubble structure known as the 'ice pit'. With no enclosing building, the ice pit was loaded with ice taken from the adjacent Robin's Dam.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77779985

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)