Welcome to Strathfillan House
Our House
The house started life in 1873, built as a Manse for the resident Minister. The Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge built the Church and Manse together with a small coachhouse and stable to replace the existing church at Dalrigh, 1km north of Strathfillan House. At a later date the original kitchens at the back of the house were demolished and replaced by a two story extension that included kitchen, laundry room, sitting room, toilet and store on the ground floor and two bedrooms, bathroom and store upstairs. Also in the depths of time the original slated tower was removed and replaced by a much smaller one.
The house appears to have been subject to a fairly extensive refurbishment in the mid 1980's, possibly following a significant dry rot outbreak. The owners then took the opportunity to 'fit' white melomine wardrobes and fitted cupboards all over the place. I suppose that stuff was 'in' then and the house would have looked pretty good after all the work was finished. When we bought the property in 2004 all these fittings were still here and starting to look pretty tired. So we took great delight in removing it all and fitting modern stuff which I'm sure in 25 years time..........
Fortunately during all this past work no-one took it upon themselves to remove the beading from the doors ( common practise in the '60's ), or to rip out the fireplaces. In most cases the fireplaces remain unmolested except the main living room one and the fire that was in the Vestry. These had been fitted with backboilers and horrible tiles. We've now taken them out and refitted timber mantlepeices and have installed wood burners.
The owners that put in all the melomine did several good things the main one being the removal of paint from the hall and staircase. Apparently the husband would work away for the week and his wife would remove a door, take it outside and painstakingly remove the paint. This is tiresome work and requires the patience of a Saint, but to tackle removing paint from the staircase was beyond the call of duty and an amazing job has been done. Thankyou.
The thing we regret most about the house is that someone decided to paint the tower and stonework around the windows white. WHY? ARGH. The house looks really good in the old pictures. I would like in the future to have this removed but in the meantime will just have to make do.
I have photographs of the house from the early 1950's taken by the resident Minister of his family. These were taken in the summer time and shows a very full garden not like it is today. The Minister's daughter has visited us a few times and has told us stories of as a wee girl going to the railway track ( Oban line )in front of the house, stopping the train ( steam of course ) and taking it to Tyndrum then returning by the Fort William line on the otherside of the Glen. Also the children would run to the garden wall when a car came past and wave frantically. The only comment I can make on that is that I'm glad the road has been moved!
In 1969 the Church decided to move the Minister into a new house in the Village and sold the Manse to Major Cruickshank who owns Auchreoch Farm just along the road. He used it for shepherds accommodation for a few years before selling on. It has changed hands a few times in the intervening years, mostly being owned by Cruickshanks.
The Church itself held its last service in 2001 and was offered for sale on the open market, however, due to there being no drainage facility from it no purchaser could be found, so it was purchased by the Manse owner. We came along 3 months later.
As of 2005 Strathfillan House, Church and Coachhouse are all now a listed building Category B by Historic Scotland. This is great and gives and indication of the importance of the building not only in this area but also in the Church of Scotland Architectural tradition.
