Front view Ardgrain, the Historic Scotland Grade A listed Baronial house which is on the outskirts of Ellon, Aberdeenshire, in Scotland.
Visible at the top of Ardgrain is the royal crest of King Charles II, carved into stone. This has the date 1664 carved into the lower corners. Above the main double doors is the Virgil quotation and house motto, along with a sun dial. The sun dial is thought to pre-date the house, and would have come from an earlier building on the same site. The lintel above the Ardgrain main door has the initials JEB (for John Edward Bean) and the date 1757.
The Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments in Scotland (RCAHMS) describe Nether Ardgrain as:
One of the crispest, sparest and most truly Scots houses in the north-east.
Two storeys and attic, harled with skewputs, thin jambs and a central, slightly projecting, one-window gable which is the pleasing focus. Steeply battered walls (including the centre gable), roll-moulded doorpiece and chamfered jambs to all front windows are 17th-century work. The doorpiece is crowned with an arched panel inscribed HOW HAPPY WOVLD THE HVSBANDMAN BE IF HE KNEW / HIS OWN GOOD (VIRGIL) LET IMPROVEMENTS AND LIBERTY FLOVRISH which could stand as a text for the whole Improving Movement, and there is a sundial over. The interior woodwork is all 1751.
Photograph taken Sept 2005.
