Our History
Measuring 2 Roods and 22 Perches, the plot located behind the Anderson Institute was purchased in February 1850 by Royal Naval Surgeon Dr Lewis Carmichael Urquhart from the Earl of Seafield for the purpose of "building a dwelling house and making a garden".
Dr Urquhart moved into his new property on 31st July 1852 and retained it until 26th May 1870 when it was sold to Manufacturing Chemist, Mr John Hutton of Burghead for £600.
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By 1873 John Hutton was declared bankrupt and the property was sold for £900 plus and additional levy of £275 to Mr Robert Grigor, coincidentally, another Royal Naval Surgeon.
In 1881 it was sold to Mr Murdoch for £1,015 and in 1895, changed hands again to Mr Christie for £895. Throughout his ownership, the property appears to have been let to various individuals, fully furnished.
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Mr Christie sold the property to Dr Robert Douglas, Chief Medical Officer for the County of Banffshire for £1,100. It remained in his ownership until 1942 when it was sold to Mr A M MacDonald, who's daughter visited us from South Africa in 2023.
Mr McDonald retained Kilmorie House until 1950 when it was sold for £4,500 to Dr Horace Thompson who only kept the property for 2 years before selling it to Mr Ian Taylor in 1952 for £4,450.
The picture above is of Kilmorie House on the day Mr Taylor and his family moved into the property, and to the right, a photograph of Mrs Taylor planting the Silver Birch tree in the back garden to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on 2nd of June 1953. We were very pleased to meet the son of the Taylor family who visited in 2021 and provided us with these photographs.
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The Taylor family remained in Kilmorie House until 1958 when it was sold to solicitor, Mr Charles Beaton Wilken for £4,000. Charles and Mary Wilken raised their family of four boys here at Kilmorie House and their initials can still be found scribed into the soft sandstone!
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Following Mr Wilken's death and the family having grown-up and moved on, Mrs Mary Wilken lived at Kilmorie by herself into her old age. She is still very fondly remembered by older residents in Institution Road.
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In February 2018, having been for sale for some-time, the property was purchased by Ian Murray and Peter Wilke. The purchase price seemed considerable at the time but was significantly less than the restoration cost!
On the surface, the property looked to be in reasonable but tired condition. However, closer inspection behind walls and beneath the floor revealed nine separate outbreaks of dry-rot, mostly caused by water ingress as a result of the poor condition of rainwater goods, rot in the roof, and the very poor condition of the exterior walls. The property had also never had central heating and all of the fire-places had been decommissioned or removed. It had been planned to put in central heating for Mrs Wilken's 80th birthday but her response was: "The day the gin freezes is the day central heating comes into this house!"
Throughout, many of the floor joists, floor boards, walls and ceilings were replaced. In certain areas, particularly in bedroom 4, there was significant work carried out to the roof, and externally, many of the sandstone lintels, cills and quoins (corner stones) were replaced before the whole building was repointed in natural hydraulic lime rather than hard Portland based cement. All fireplaces were reinstated downstairs, central heating was installed, and every bedroom was given its own ensuite facilities.
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At this same time, the former Gig House was converted into two-bedroom self-catering accommodation.
By November 2019 when we began trading as a guest house, our original £70,000. budget seemed like a distant memory! We had seriously underestimated the time and cost of carrying out the restoration, but to this day, have no regrets in having restored Kilmorie House to a condition which we think is probably better than it was when built in 1851. Throughout our restoration, we uncovered some very poor workmanship and the use of inferior quality materials. Parts of the house were on the point of collapse when we commenced the restoration, concealed behind lath and plaster and woodworm infested timber framing.​
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Most of the restoration was completed in 19 months with the exception of the Gig House and the dining room which were delayed during the time of COVID. Thankfully, we were able to trade throughout that time with just 4 bedrooms and a temporary dining room, accommodating RAF and NHS essential key workers. Without that income at that time, we might well have found ourselves in financial dire straits!
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Throughout the past few years, we have built-up a good reputation and many loyal customers, benefitting greatly from the wider economy of this small corner of Scotland. We benefit from business and tourism connected to the whisky industry, the Royal Airforce at Lossiemouth, Gordonstoun School, and a generally, a broad spectrum of visitors and tourists exploring Morayshire and beyond.
