Monument record MHG22291 - Post Office, Strathpeffer

This building, though now only one property, was originally four separate premises. It is present on the OS 2nd edition map (1906), though the current footprint is much larger.
In the 1920s it had 4 shops:
1. A jewellers and watchmakers shop, a branch of a shop in Tain, but served by Miss MacKintosh, daughter of the miller at Millnain. It had displays of pearls from the River Conon in its window.
2. A vegetable and fruit shop (before the coming of Adams in the Square).
3. A butchers run by Murdo MacGregor. This fine business supplied meat to hotels and boarding houses from Mr MacGregor’s own farms, and was noted for its quality.
Miller Macrae was the butcher after Murdo MacGregor.
4. A small useful grocery run by Miss Jean Graham, daughter of the stationmaster.
When put up for sale in 1949, two of the shops were occupied by a furnisher and upholsterer (Messrs Fraser & Co.), with the other two let to a butcher (Representatives of Murdo MacGregor) and a grocer (Miss Jean Graham).
The Post Office was located here from the 1960s to the mid 1980s. Several other shops have been located here in more recent times. In the early 1990s it was a café and creative crafts shop. In the 2000s, it was a craft shop owned by a Dutch couple. More recently the site has been an antiques shop (run by Jessie Mackenzie in the old sorting office end) and a church, and until 2011 Maya, a chocolate shop. It is currently (2012) for sale again.
The stone footings are original, though the roof burnt down c. 1960 and the three shops were converted into two. The Smiths owned it prior to the fire, when it was taken over by the Millers. When purchased in the early 2000s, the property still had 3 post codes. The sign for the PO was found during renovations in 2004.

Information from Duncan Finlayson; Jennifer Haslam; Fiona Newton; Yves Pattyn; Margaret Spark, ARCH Remembering Strathpeffer Project, 2011.

Messrs John D. Wood & Co., 1949. Strathpeffer, Ross-shire. The Holiday Resort of the Northern Highlands. Part of the Strathpeffer Estate. For Sale by Auction as a Whole or in Lots <1>