EHG6396 - Historic building recording - Phippsfield Cottage, Kildary

An historic building investigation was undertaken by EASE Archaeology in 2025 in advance of the proposed redevelopment of Phippsfield Cottage, Kildary, Invergordon, Highland. The redevelopment proposals included demolishing an existing outbuilding and retaining the main house, adding an extension to the northeast end. The buildings were recorded to lie in the vicinity of a former tile and brick works, the precise location of which had not hitherto been recorded. Research undertaken as part of this work, however, indicated that the factory was likely to have stood outwith the Phippsfield Cottage property boundary, some 100- 200m to the south. Phippsfield Cottage was built in the early 1800’s by Hugh Rose of Glastullich. It formed a small part of an extensive programme of agricultural improvement works undertaken by the landowner in this area during the first 40 years of the C19th. The map-based evidence indicated that Phippsfield Cottage was built after 1756 and before 1872. It appeared on the OS Six-inch 1st edition Map as three ranges of stone buildings. Additional detail was provided by the OS 25 inch to the mile 1st edition, published in 1874 which indicated that the conjoined southern and eastern ranges corresponded to the structures present on the site today. The southern range, the larger of the two extant ranges, represented the principal 3-bay two storied dwellinghouse, the smaller eastern range was a subsidiary structure. In the hinterland, two areas of disturbed ground located to the south of Phippsfield Cottage were tentatively identified as the site of a former tile and brick works, which was known to have been located in the area. An adjacent cluster of wooden and stone buildings may also be associated; these are shown on the 1st edition maps and described in the accompanying OS Books of Reference as houses and a timberyard. These also had been demolished by the early C20th. <1>