The History of Aigas House

THE TACKSMAN'S HOUSE

Situated in the Highlands of Scotland, the House of Aigas as it stands today includes Bronze Age foundations indicating that this has been a successful site for human occupation for 5,000 years, a Fraser tacksman's house dated 1760, a large Victorian extension built by a wealthy Glasgow shipping merchant in 1877, and a neo-Georgian west wing built by Sir John Lister-Kaye in 1988.

The 1760 Tacksman's house replaced an earlier house burned down by the Duke of Cumberland's Hanoverian troops in 1746, in the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Culloden, when Gaeldom and the clan system was broken and Highland life changed forever. The Jacobite Frasers living here at the time were killed in their beds and the house razed to rubble. By 1760 Highland politics had settled down and some authority was given back to the clan chiefs. Tacks (small rented estates) were once again allocated and at Aigas a new house was built on the old foundations. This still stands intact but is dwarfed by the huge Victorian facade.

THE VICTORIANS

The Victorians, a family called Gordon-Oswald, did not live at Aigas. They came here to create a model sporting estate for grouse shooting, salmon fishing and deer stalking in the fashion of the day, (now referred to as the Balmorality Epoch), returning to their city residence each winter.

They purchased up to 20,000 acres of moors, hill land, farms and woods and built the fine mansion house which intentionally completely swamped the little 1760 house.

They were wealthy Glaswegian Lowlanders who did not identify with Gaelic tradition and the bad old days of the Highlands clans. The British Empire and the new industrial wealth that was sweeping the country were uppermost in their minds.

They built the Crask of Aigas village to house the estate labour force, at one time employing up to 60 men and women.

AFTER THE WAR

After World War II the Gordon-Oswalds died out and the house and estate suffered in the deep depression which hit the Highlands in the 50s.

Aigas changed hands several times, was split up into smaller units and the house became an Old Folks Home, requisitioned by the Inverness-shire County Council to house a whole generation of elderly Highlanders who had lost their men folk in two world wars and had no-one to look after them. It was an unhappy era that lasted until 1971 when it was closed down and left empty. By 1975 it was considered unsafe and plans were prepared to demolish it.

SIR JOHN LISTER-KAYE

John Lister-Kaye, a naturalist and author who had moved to Scotland to work with Gavin Maxwell in 1969, bought the remnants of the estate in 1976 and rescued it by creating a home and the first field studies centre for the Highlands. In 1976 it was opened by Sir Frank Fraser Darling, Scotland's most celebrated ecologist. Since then it has become Scotland's premier field centre, winning international awards for environmental education and hosting travel study groups from all over the world.

In 1988 Sir John and Lady Lister-Kaye built the west wing, extending the Georgian 1760 house for their growing family. It is their permanent residence today.