Building record MAB30959 - MAR LODGE

Hunting Lodge, now in commercial use, set within a designed landscape (MAB30997).

Hunting Lodge, now in commercial use, set within a designed landscape (MAB30997). It was built between 1895-1898 by A. Marshall MacKenzie for the Duke and Duchess of Fife as their autumn residence. It is built on the site of an earlier house, which had been damaged in the Muckle Spate of 1829. Originally known as 'Dalmore' or 'Delmore' House, it is thought that a lodge may have occupied this site as far back as the 15th Century.

The 18th Century lodge was a two-storey, three-bay house with flanking pavilions, and included a prison cell, and from circa 1760 onwards was known as Mar Lodge. It is shown on the 1st edition OS map as a U-plan building open to the south, with L-plan east and west wings, named as 'Old Mar Lodge'. It was abandoned following damage from flooding in 1829. A New Mar Lodge was built to the southeast on the other side of the river at Corriemulzie (MAB31320). New Mar Lodge was built on higher ground and constructed of timber, but was destroyed by fire in 1895, and was replaced by the present Mar Lodge, close to the original.

The current building is shown on the 2nd edition OS map. It is built on roughly the same plan as its predecessor; however the rectangular east and west wings are splayed, and there are smaller wings to the rear, creating a U-plan section with a rectangular court. The present lodge is a large two-storey Tudor and Highland style multi-gabled building, constructed from Aberdeen-bonded granite, with mock-Tudor half-timber gables and a tiled roof with carved barge boards and overhanging eaves between gables. It has a five-bay central section with wings at obtuse angles forming a splayed U-plan open to the south, with a large single-storey service court to the north. The first-floor openings have stone mullions and transoms, and there are a variety of distinctive tall wall head and ridge stacks, some with chevron detail. It formerly had a tree-trunk veranda running around the house, but now only the porch survives.

The lodge was damaged by fire in 1991, and the interior was reconstructed using old photographs to the appearance of the late-19th, early-20th Century lodge, with ornate decorative plasterwork and extensive timber panelling. There are several ornately carved door pieces, including pedimented doors to main lobby, and large decorative chimneypieces to the principal rooms.

There is a ballroom to the west (MAB30991) and a chapel to the east (MAB31005). Dalmore is shown on the Roy Military Survey map (1744-1755), which also shows another settlement, Ballnilam, immediately to the east, but this does not appear on the OS 1st edition map. An archaeological evaluation in advance of garden restoration works to the east showed that almost all trace of the original early 18th Century Mar Lodge and its associated gardens had been removed during the late 1980s through ploughing. A single length of wall foundation and various spreads of mortar were the last remnants of the old lodge.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 16/08/86 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

WALLACE, S.A., 1997, DES, 9 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2063.

EXCAVATION

JAMIESON, F, 1998, Mar Lodge Estate, Documentary Research, Volume I, P.26-34 (Bibliographic reference). SAB924.

DUNN, A., 2001, MAR LODGE ESTATE, DES p10 2001 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2471.

SURVEY

CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY, 2013, HISTORIC DESIGNED LANDSCAPES PROJECT SITE RESEARCH REPORT 07 CORRIEMULZIE COTTAGE (NEW MAR LODGE) (Bibliographic reference). SAB8680.

CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY, 2013, HISTORIC DESIGNED LANDSCAPES PROJECT SITE RESEARCH REPORT 08 MAR LODGE (Bibliographic reference). SAB8682.

Jan 1 1998 , AAS/GR/98/CT457-459, AAS/GR/98/CT457-459 (Ground Photograph). SAB33088.

Jan 26 1999 , AAS/99/02/CT61-3, AAS/99/02/CT61-3 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB17161.

Jul 16 1990 , KH 1-2, KH 1-2 (Ground Photograph). SAB33805.

Jul 21 2015 , AAS-GR-15-07-021 - 035, AAS-GR-15-07-021 - 035 (Ground Photograph). SAB20893.

May 14 1998 , AAS/GR/98/CT187-188, AAS/GR/98/CT187-188 (Ground Photograph). SAB33087.

SDD, n.d., BLDS OF ARCH & HIST INTEREST, CRATHIE & BRAEMAR 24 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1827.

Oct 31 1996 , AAS/GR/96/CT187,190, AAS/GR/96/CT187,190 (Ground Photograph). SAB32988.

Record last edited

Sep 25 2026 2:55PM