Formal ashlar gatepiers announce Tongue House while long rubble walls organise and shelter its coastal estate ground.
Quick facts
- Date
- Later 18th century
- Architect / designer
- Estate mason unrecorded
- Type
- Rusticated ashlar gatepiers and enclosing garden walls
- Designation
- Listed building, Category B (LB18461)
- OS grid reference
- NC 59141 58657
Architecture, archaeology and continuing use
A matched pair of polished, rusticated piers carries moulded caps and shaped finials. Coped rubble walls extend the architectural boundary and contain a simpler entrance associated historically with movement between the house, boathouse and pier.
Its story
The entrance work followed the 1750 enlargement and landscape development at Tongue House. Its walls continued to structure movement after the estate passed from the Mackays to the Sutherland family.
Why it is included
The Category B group demonstrates how boundary architecture, circulation and controlled sea access contributed to the presentation and operation of a Highland estate.
What to notice
- Rustication giving the gatepiers a strongly modelled surface.
- Moulded caps and shaped stone finials.
- The contrast between formal entrance masonry and long practical rubble walls.
Reading the surroundings
These structures mark private estate boundaries. View from public routes without blocking gates, entering drives or climbing walls.
Timeline
- Later 18th century The formal gatepiers and enclosing walls were added during development of the estate landscape.
- 1829 Purchase by the Sutherland family placed the entrance within a new estate administration.
- 1979 The gatepiers and walls received separate Category B listing.
- 1987 The national inventory recognised their contribution to the designed landscape.
What we know — and what remains uncertain
The exact patron, mason and construction year are unrecorded, and present estate circulation is private.
Sources & further reading
- Historic Environment Scotland: Tongue House Gatepiers and Garden Walls, LB18461 — Designation status, mapped location, date, fabric and architectural or archaeological interest.
- Highland HER: Tongue House — Regional parent record linking the gatepiers and walls with the house and related estate structures.
- Historic Environment Scotland: Tongue House designed landscape — Estate history and wider landscape context for the entrance and enclosing walls.
Location
OS grid reference NC 59141 58657 · Location confidence: High: the national designation supplies an official mapped National Grid Reference; the independent source confirms the Place relationship, history or current identity. · Select the marker to open its satellite view in Google Maps. On desktop, drag Pegman (the yellow figure) onto a blue road. On mobile, turn on the Street View layer and tap a blue road. Other photo markers may be user-contributed.
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