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Mansion house and gardens, still in residential use. It is built on the site of an earlier 13th century castle. The present house was built in the 17th century, but incorporates elements of the earlier castle on the site and has had extensive renovations since the initial build, mainly in the mid-19th century. The 13th century castle is understood to have been a substantial fortified structure, consisting of a large courtyard with enclosing walls, towers and a keep. In the earlier 17th century, the lower storey of the original keep was incorporated into the later house as a vaulted ground floor. In 1979 the house was opened as the Old Mansion House Hotel, but in the early-21st century it was converted back to a family home. There is a North, South and West wing, with an internal courtyard closed to the East with a wall and gatepiers. The early-17th century South wing incorporates the earlier two-storey vaulted tower house. The L-plan West wing was extended in 1852. There were extensive repairs throughout the house in 1851 by William Scott, architect. Further renovations in 1923 by Mills and Shepherd, architects, included re-harling, the opening of the blocked West door and the removal of the door on the South wing, the addition of dormers and also interior alterations. The house is constructed from rubble, although harled, and there are moulded architraves at the earlier sections. There is mostly 12-pane sash and case windows used. There are flat-coped skews, with moulded shew putts and ashlar coped ridge and end stacks with clay cans on a pitched gabled grey slate roof. The South elevation has an off-centre gabled entrance tower with short buttresses at the angles, and a continuous moulded corbel course at the first and second floor. A timber-boarded door is set within a moulded doorway. There are two irregular windows above the doorway at the first floor, small paired windows at the second floor and a window within the gable flanked by small shot-holes. There is a scrolled apex finial to the gable. On the West return of the entrance tower is a window at the second floor. On the East return there are shot-holes and a blocked window at the first floor. There are two bays to the East of the tower, which stand at three-storeys. There are two small ground floor windows with security bars fitted and symmetrical windows to the first and second floors. The second floor is slightly recessed. The four-bay elevation to the West of the tower is at the same height, but is two-storey and attic, with gabled dormer windows to the attic from 1923. The second to last bay is made up of an advanced stack, which narrows and is stepped at the second floor. A doorway in this section was closed and changed to a window in 1923. The Western-most dormer has a coat-of-arms above the window, and the central one has a marriage stone. These stones are from the 17th century house, and were found lying within the grounds. The marriage stone is initialled PL and MC, and dated 1703, celebrating the marriage Partick Lyon of Auchterhouse to Margaret Carnegie. This Western bay projects beyond the Western limits of the West wing, forming an L-plan West wing, and is buttressed at the ground floor. The West elevation of this bay is three-storey, and is slightly recessed at the first and second floors. The rest of the Western elevation of the West wing comprises of an earlier 17th century two-bay, two-storey and dormered attic section, with the two-bay three-storey Northern section of the elevation with a wallhead stack and regular fenestration dating to the mid-18th century. The North wing is tall, but single-storey, and has two wide, stepped stacks that are truncated at the wallhead with later narrow stacks. The three-storey gable end of the West wing makes up the Western section of the elevation. The East elevation is made up of central corniced and channelled ashlar gatepiers with adjoining courtyard walls. At the ends of the elevation there is the gable end of the South wing, which has a small garderobe window at the second floor. The end of the North wing has a roof to the wallhead. Facing the internal courtyard, the South elevation has a central door, with two corbel stones to the West. There is a slightly advanced early-17th century section to the East of the doorway, with irregular fenestration. There is a single-storey lean-to spanning the length of the West elevation in the courtyard, which is slightly advanced to the South and has a door within the return. The roof of the lean-to is partially cut down to the North so as not to cover the original window. There are two piended dormers to the North. The internal North elevation has windows to the West with stone margins. Inside the courtyard walls to the East there are lean-tos flanking the opening. Inside the house, there is a barrel-vaulted ground floor to the East of the South wing, with a round-headed moulded ashlar doorpiece. There are richly decorated compartmentalised plaster ceilings from circa 1620 in the drawing (presently dining) room and ante room, with large plaster pendants, monograms, floreate and foliate motifs. There is a fine similarly detailed overmantle in the drawing room, with Buchan arrangement of arms and three Corinthiane colonettes at the angles. The library is on the first floor, and has a fine but less detailed compartmentalised ceiling and Rococo fireplace. There is corbelled evidence of newel stairs in the North-West corner of the library. There are two bedrooms with interesting 17th century plaster decorated ceilings, including an effigy of Mary, who was the daughter of the 5th, and wife of 6th Earl of Buchan. There are various moulded chimneypieces, and a garderobe within the North-East angle of the second floor bedroom at the East of the South wing, as well as some fielded panel doors. There is a walled garden is to the South-East of the house, which contains a circa mid-17th century sundial. It is a card table-type sundial, with a moulded baluster shaft, a moulded dial that is chamfered at the angles with weathered incised figures, and a metal gnomon. It is marked on the 1st edition OS map (1860) as being to the South of the house, but is moved slightly to the West on the 2nd edition OS map (1901) to be within the walled garden. A timber game store dating from the late-19th century is approximately three metres (10 feet) high, set on tapered and polished ashlar stilts. There are curvilinear doors at front, louvred sides and a pyramidal roof. There is a modern T-plan building in the Western extent of the gardens (NO 33066 37252), and the sundial appears to have been moved again to the West of the house (NO 33096 737285).
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Angus
HER -
NO33NW0031 - AUCHTERHOUSE OLD MANSION HOUSE