Fairburn Tower: Time Travel

30 Apr 2024

A rare surviving tower house near Inverness has enjoyed a second renaissance following its restoration as a holiday home but should Historic Environment Scotland be so accommodating? We explore the pros and cons of rescuing romantic ruins for future generations. Photography by Roddy Ritchie for the Landmark Trust.

The country may be peppered with romantic ruins but these piles of stone and ivy are not as timeless as they appear, with vegetation growth, erosion and vandalism often conspiring to ensure that fragile remains will be lost without timely intervention. Stepping into the breach is the Landmark Trust, a conservation charity specialising in rescuing places in peril and sensitively restoring them as holiday accommodation.

More than restoration this process provides the economic underpinning necessary for long-term survival and provides a form of living history into the bargain, thrusting dark and dusty spaces into the limelight to be appreciated not just as pretty backdrops but as purposeful places that work for their upkeep. Blessed with an embarrassment of archaeological and architectural riches from past centuries Scotland finds itself confronted by the difficult questions of what to save and when, with limited resources and skills throwing those decisions into sharper relief.

The approach is embodied by a sixteenth-century tower house which has been awakened from its long slumber to provide a unique vacation spot for those keen to travel farther in time than in space. Fairburn Tower in Muir of Ord, Easter Ross, was built around 1545 and is considered a rare example of the Scottish Renaissance, remaining largely unaltered but for the addition of an 18th-century stair tower. Lying forgotten since the late nineteenth century, when it was reduced to a roofless shell, the tower house has been revitalised by a design team comprising Simpson & Brown and Narro. Brought back to life in resplendent pink for the sum of £2.2m the Highland des res has never looked better following a three-year restoration programme that has seen it converted to a two-bedroom holiday home over five floors, richly decorated and furnished with some help from artist Paul Mowbray.

The key move in making this possible lies behind the scenes. Engineers stabilised the structure by shoring up surviving masonry with fully reversible interventions, eliminating the risk of further collapse and permitting a full refurbishment. This takes the form of a reintroduced stair tower, the original being in a perilous condition having visibly detached itself from the main building. This has been replaced by a reinforced concrete double that has been sculpted to provide the backbone for the entire scheme. Restored to solidity architects Simpson & Brown were free to enrich the space in a manner befitting a home that was originally built by a close friend of King James V, bringing to life the reality of how the well-to-do of the era passed their time - right down to the absence of wi-fi.

Modest interventions include timber-lined bath and shower room pods introduced to bedrooms, features that would doubtless have impressed Murdo Mackenzie, the first owner of the tower. New oak windows and shutters also serve to make life more comfortable. It was more recent residents however, including nesting barn owls, bats and jackdaws who proved more problematic for the contractor Laing Traditional Masonry, who has painstakingly conducted essential rebuilding work of the facade using hot lime mortar.

Fairburn Tower is better than new and is set to stand tall for centuries to come, a retelling of history to be experienced and not just read about. In the process, the Landmark Trust has created a historic place to stay which pays its way.