Port An Eilean, Garden Wall, Blair Atholl, Perth and Kinross

Description

Andrew Heiton Junior and Thomas Arthur Heiton, 1868; service wing extension to northwest (rear) before 1898. 2-storey and attic, 7-bay irregular plan Italianate multi-gabled former sporting lodge (used for fishing) situated on an elevated position in extensive grounds overlooking a terraced garden to the south with Loch Tummel beyond. In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: former laundry and stable building to the northwest.

The lodge has a prominent square-plan and piended roof tower, arched entrance porch and a variety of decorative features including a metal window balcony and columned mullions. The house is constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and quoins and has moulded architraves. There are decorative solum vents, a ground floor cill course, and a string course to the first floor. There are blind bull's eye windows to projecting gables.

There are timber sash and case windows, those at the first floor are predominantly round-arched with 4-pane glazing. The gabled slate roofs have timber bargeboarding and decorative purlins and paired bracketed eaves. There are timber eaves with the Duke of Atholl insignia in a round crest interspersed along the eaves course. There are multiple corniced and shouldered end and ridge stacks with lead flashings, and cast iron decorative hoppers and downpipes.

The interior was seen in 2015. There is a mid-19th century decorative interior with a timber imperial staircase to the central hall. There is well detailed timber and plaster work throughout the building, with particularly fine treatment to the public rooms at the ground floor. The entrance hall has a decorative encaustic tile floor and timber panelling. There are decorative chimneypieces, some of marble and some with overmantels throughout the house. There is a dogleg, curved service stair to the west, with decorative metal railings. There is a small barrel vaulted cellar.

There is a U-plan coped coursed rubble garden wall to the south of the house dating to 1868 partially enclosing a terraced garden from the north with open views towards loch. There is a single storey, rectangular-plan, coursed rubble, gabled roof with stone coping former store attached to the west. The terraced garden is the remnant of a larger garden that existed before the 1950s, prior to the introduction of a hydro-electric power scheme to Loch Tummel.

Statement of Interest

Port An Eilean dates from 1868 and is a good example of a fishing lodge, constructed during the first wave of sporting lodge building across the Highlands of Scotland following Queen Victoria's rebuilding of Balmoral into her Highland estate during the 1850s. The design is by prominent local architects, brothers Andrew Heiton Junior and Thomas Arthur Heiton, in the Italianate style and was constructed as a fishing lodge for the 7th Duke of Atholl, whose family historically owned the estate holdings at the western end of Loch Tummel.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: former laundry and stable building to the northwest.

Sporting lodges were fashionable in the second half of the 19th century in Highland Scotland. Many were relatively simple large houses to fulfil a practical purpose, however Port An Eilean stands out for its architectural detailing which is combined with a large and practical plan form to accommodate sporting parties. It largely retains its intended design, including its decorative interior, as well as a number of distinguishing architectural features such as its distinctive tower.

The tower is a less common detail in the context of lodge buildings – a feature more common to villa architecture – and it adds to the architectural and design interest. There is the influence of suburban and small country house architecture here and Andrew Heiton Junior was aware of this type of design, as can be seen from his near contemporary Seggie House, Fife (category C); or Westwood House, Fife of 1865 (Category B). Seggie, Westwood and Port An Eilean houses all give the impression of a suburban merchant's villa transported to the Scottish countryside.

Westwood House in Fife (listed at category B) of 1865 by the Heiton brothers, is an Italianate mansion with balustrade towers which also has strong design connections to Port An Eilean. Seggie, Westwood and Port An Eilean houses all give the impression of a suburban merchant's villa, which has been transported to the Scottish countryside. The Heitons' contribution to country house architecture in Fife, Dundee and Perthshire may have ensured that a building of some distinction would have been built at Port An Eilean, and not simply a plain lodge building.

The lodge is situated within its own grounds and its lochside setting is typical for its intended sporting function. The earliest reference to a building on this site dates to the late 18th century. A smallholding, known as 'Portnellan', is shown on James Stobie's 1783 map of the Counties of Perth and Clackmannan. John Thompson's map of 1827, the Atlas of Scotland, also features 'Portnellan' as a smallholding along Loch Tummel. The former laundry and stable building, located separately, to the northwest of the house, may possibly be the earlier farmhouse referred to in this map; it was converted to ancillary accommodation for the fishing lodge in around 1868.

The present lodge building has the same footprint as first appeared on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed in 1861, published in 1867, and known as Portnellain House) and is shown, as extended, on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed in 1898, published 1900). In the 1950s, the Loch Tummel hydro-electric power scheme was introduced at the west end of the loch, and the shore line was flooded as a result. The gardens and terracing at Port An Eilean were partially submerged, however the north terrace and remaining U-plan shape of the walled garden survive. The full extent of the garden is visible on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map.

Sporting lodges are a building type characteristic of mid to late 19th century Scotland and in particular the Highlands. The construction of sporting lodges on Highland estates became more common following improved road links and after the arrival of the railway from the 1840s onward. This increased the viability of travel to Scotland, and later, by rail to the north of Scotland made the Highlands a fashionable place to holiday and hunting sports in particular were popular. The influence of Queen Victoria in making Scotland a desirable place to holiday was also a major influence on the construction of sporting lodges. Queen Victoria first holidayed on the Balmoral Estate in 1848 and Balmoral itself was reconstructed between 1852-56.

External Links

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