Angus HER - NO43NE0010 - MURROES HOUSE

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Main Details

Primary ReferenceNO43NE0010
NameMURROES HOUSE
NRHE Card No.NO43NE10
NRHE Numlink 33306
HES SM No. NULL
HES LB No. 19011
Site Form Standing Structure
Site Condition Complete 2
Details Fortified house, still in residential use, and the remains of an associated dovecot. The house is also known as Morroes Castle. It was built in the 16th century as a low, square-plan tower house, with a south range added in circa 1600. The dovecot was probably built in the early-17th century. It is shown on the 1st edition OS map as a rectangular building with a smaller rectangular building to the east, set within a rectangular enclosure divided lengthwise. The circular dovecot is shown to the north-east of the house. On the 2nd edition OS map a group of smaller buildings and enclosures link the northern end of the house to the rectangular building to the east. The house was used at one time as a bothy for farm workers, but the house was restored in 1942, and extended to the south in the 1960s. Current maps show there are two rectangular buildings to the south of the house, and most of the buildings and enclosures at the north linking the house and rectangular building have been removed. The original house and circa 1600 south addition form a two-storey rectangular-plan fortified house, with the 1960s south addition being single-storey. The house is built from pink and buff sandstone rubble with a stone slate roof, and a piended roof to the 1960s addition. Features include moulded or chamfered architraves, gun-loops, shot-holes, crowstepped gables with skewputts and crown finials and end and ridge coped stacks with thackstanes. The east elevation has a later forestair at the original tower-house section at the north, leading to a roll-moulded doorway with a stone slab-roofed porch. On the circa 1600 range in the centre of the elevation there is an entrance door with a fanlight formed from a former chimneybreast. There is a stair tower on the west elevation in the circa 1600 range. It was heightened during the 1942 restoration, and has a ball-finialled conical roof. The first floor window on the north gable end has a shouldered architrave and relieving arch. Shutters and panelling from Forthingham House (NO44SE0003) have been re-used in one of the rooms on the first floor. The building to the east of the house is likely to be contemporary with the original towerhouse. It is rubble-built with a stone slate roof. A rubble-built larder with stone shelves and a slab roof adjoins the forestair on the east elevation of the house. The boundary walls are constructed from rubble, and feature an arrow slit and blocked aperture at the north-east. The circular-plan dovecot has thick sandstone rubble walls and an entrance door at the east. It is roofless, but the stone nesting boxes remain intact. There is a large rectangular rubble-built livestock pen to the north of the dovecot.
Last Update19/01/2017
Updated Bynackerman
Compiler 
Date of Compilation 

Google Map for NO43NE0010

National Grid Reference: NO 4613 3503



Event Details


Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types

Monument Type 1Monument Type 2Monument Type 3OrderProbability
DOVECOTSCIRCULARREMAINS OFB100
HOUSES FORTIFIEDA100
GUN-LOOPS  H100
SHOT-HOLES  I100
GABLES CROW-STEPPEDJ100
STACKS COPEDK100
FORESTAIRS  L100
TOWERHOUSES  M100
DOORWAYS ROLL-MOULDEDN100
TOWERSSTAIR O100
ROOFS CONICALP100
FINIALSBALL Q100
WINDOWS ARCHITRAVEDR100
ARCHESRELIEVING S100
SHUTTERS RE-USEDT100
PANELS RE-USEDU100
BUILDINGSRECTANGULAR V100
BUILDINGSRUBBLE-BUILT W100
LARDERSRUBBLE-BUILT X100
SHELVESSTONE Y100
WALLSRUBBLE Z100
ARROW-SLITS  AA100
OPENINGS BLOCKEDAB100
BOXESSTONENESTINGAC100
PENSRUBBLE-BUILT AD100
HOUSESFARM-WORKERS C100
ARCHITRAVES MOULDEDD100
ARCHITRAVES CHAMFEREDE100
HOUSESRUBBLE-BUILT F100
ROOFSSTONESLATEDG100