Monument record MHG55845 - Farmhouse and turbine house - Glensgaich, Fodderty

A farmhouse with adjoining turbine house at Glensgaich was visited by C Dagg during a walkover survey prior to a proposed hydro-electric scheme in 1999. It was described as a substantial farm house, though now derelict and vandalised, with a small outhouse attached to the west providing stabling. It had been extended to the rear and this intruded into the northwest corner of the turbine house. The turbine house, built for a hydro-electric scheme dating to 1904 had been constructed of granite rather than local stone. It was empty apart from two central trenches corresponding to the points of inflow and outflow at the front and back, with a small stone plinth between the two trenches. The hydro-electric scheme had been constructed for Colonel Blunt Mackenzie and although it came near to bankrupting the estate it did supply electricity for the shepherds house at Glenskaich, Castle Leod and some of the crofts along the Heights. It was subsequently bought by the Ross-shire Electrical Company andthen taken over y the Grampian Electrical Company and finally the Hydro Board before falling out of use. <1>

This site was noted in ARCH's Heritage Along the Kyle Line project in 2011. The house was part of a crofting township that was occupied within living memory. After 1834 the area was cleared for sheep, and later used for grouse shooting. In 1904 the Cromartie Estate installed a hydro-electric scheme, which served Castle Leod, the Heights and Strathpeffer Spa. This fell out of use, but a new hydro project built in the 1990s was providing electricity into the grid in 2011. The house at the right was the converted turbine house for this new hydro scheme. A postmedieval date was suggested as well as a grid reference of NH 45852 60914. <2>