{{Short description|Historic country estate and house in Scotland}} {{Use British English|date=April 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}} {{Infobox building | name = Killiechassie | image = File:JK Rowling (Harry Potter Author), Aberfeldy Home.jpg | image_caption = Killiechassie, showing the house in the centre | location_city = [[Weem]] | location_country = [[Scotland]] | owner = privately held | cost = £440,000<ref name="Herald">{{Cite web|title=Rowling retreats to banks of the Tay Author pays (pounds) 500,000 for historic Perthshire house|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12132844.rowling-retreats-to-banks-of-the-tay-author-pays-pounds-500000-for-historic-perthshire-house/|access-date=2022-01-18|newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]|language=en}}</ref><ref name="ScotLIS">{{Cite web|url=https://scotlis.ros.gov.uk/property-summary/PTH17203|access-date=2022-01-18|website=ScotLIS|title=Property summary for PTH17203}}</ref> | address = | coordinates = {{coord|56.631|N|3.855|W|display=inline,title}} }} '''Killiechassie''' is a country estate and house near [[Weem]], about {{convert|1|mi|km|0|abbr=off|spell=on}} northeast of [[Aberfeldy,_Perth_and_Kinross|Aberfeldy]],<ref name="LtdHartop1958">{{Google books|title=Johnston's gazetteer of Scotland: including a glossary of the most common Gaelic names|id=dCIOAQAAMAAJ|page=141}}</ref> in [[Perth and Kinross]], Scotland. The estate lies on the banks of the [[River Tay]]<ref name="BeahmKirk2007"/> in some {{convert|12|acre|ha|abbr=off|0}}, about {{convert|74|mi|km|abbr=off}} north of [[Edinburgh]]. It was owned by the Douglas family in the latter part of the 19th century, and a new house was erected in 1865. A [[dovecote]] by the house was [[Listed building|listed]] as Grade B on 9 June 1981. The house was purchased by author [[J.K. Rowling]] in 2001.
==History== The Killiechassie Estate has existed for centuries, and historically fell within the civil parish of [[Logierait]].<ref name="Groome1998">{{google books|title=Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland: a survey of Scottish topography, statistical, biographical and historical|id=61k-AQAAIAAJ|year=1998||page=549}}</ref> The name ''Killiechassie'' is from [[Scottish Gaelic]] ''Cill Chasaidh'', "the church of the steep face," which refers to a church which stood on the hill there.<ref name=CHH>{{citation|url=http://design15.clickstay.net/sub-history/breadalbane/Killiechassie.htm |title=Killiechassie |author=Breadalbane Historical Society |publisher=Explore Scotland |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407075018/http://design15.clickstay.net/sub-history/breadalbane/Killiechassie.htm |archivedate= 7 April 2014 }}</ref> This was part of the earldom of [[Atholl]] and was then granted by [[Máel Coluim, Earl of Atholl]], to [[Scone Abbey]] in the 12th century.<ref name=CHH/> [[File:Killiechassie 1862.png|thumb|left|341px|An [[Ordnance Survey]] map of 1862. Features marked include a fountain, kennel, [[mausoleum]] and well. The River Tay is shown running to the east of the estate.]] In the 17th century the estate was owned by members of [[Clan Murray]] who became the [[Duke of Atholl|Dukes of Atholl]].<ref name=CHH/> Later proprietors of Killiechassie included the Robertson family, who belonged to the house of [[Struan, Perthshire|Struan]].<ref>{{google books|title=The Art Journal|id=uIPlAAAAMAAJ||page=54}}</ref> In 1727, the estate was owned by the Reverend Robert Stewart, who left money for a chapel to be built there. On his death in 1729 he was buried here, followed by his wife, Anne, a year later.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highlandperthshirenews.co.uk/general-civic-activities/killiechassie-burial-ground |title=Killiechassie Burial Ground |date=9 May 2013 |work=Highland Perthshire News |author=Anne Beeson |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331143943/http://www.highlandperthshirenews.co.uk/general-civic-activities/killiechassie-burial-ground |archivedate=31 March 2014 }}</ref> According to legend, [[Bonnie Prince Charlie]] was reputed to have sheltered in a sycamore tree here on his retreat to [[Inverness]] in 1746 during the [[Jacobite rising of 1745–46]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1363103/Rowling-buys-a-place-to-potter.html |title=Rowling buys a place to potter |author=Tara Womersley |date=22 Nov 2001 |newspaper=[[Daily Telegraph]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217094340/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1363103/Rowling-buys-a-place-to-potter.html|archive-date=17 February 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> A small loch in the vicinity is, according to superstition, occupied by a Celtic water spirit.<ref name="Miller2012">{{google books|title=Harry Potter Places Book Five—Scotland|id=LYfQFKxrCzsC&pg=PT94|pages=94–95}}</ref>
In 1850, the estate was documented to be held by a Miss Fleming, when it was described by poet David Millar as "almost opposite Aberfeldy, a sweet place, but capable of much greater embellishment."<ref>{{google books|last=Millar|first=David |title=The Tay: A Poem|id=V5GTU6JiYDcC&pg=PA124|year=1850|publisher=T. Richardson and D. Wood|page=124}}</ref> In the later 19th century, the estate was owned by the Douglas family, and an Edward Octavius Douglas, nephew of [[John Douglas, 7th Marquess of Queensberry]] held it in 1871, and a Hannah Charlotte Douglas by 1892.<ref name="Burke1871">{{cite book|last=Burke|first=Sir Bernard|title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=161CAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA363|year=1871|publisher=Harrison|page=363}}</ref><ref name="Shennan1892">{{cite book|last=Shennan|first=Hay|title=Boundaries of Counties and Parishes in Scotland as Settled by the Boundary Commissioners Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_meygAAAAMAAJ|year=1892|publisher=W. Green|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_meygAAAAMAAJ/page/n271 234]}}</ref> In 1865 the older house was replaced with a new one. The [[Laird]] of Killiechassie is listed in the 1956 Scottish Record Society publication ''A Directory of Landownership in Scotland, c. 1770'', ed. Loretta Timperley.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Directory of Landownership in Scotland, circa 1770 |date=1956 |publisher=Scottish Record Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0iTCMW0M4cC&q=killiechassie++laird&dq=killiechassie++laird |page=277 |accessdate=27 June 2019 |quote=Laird of Killiechassie: Pitcastle}}</ref><ref name="Miller2012"/>
The house was purchased by author [[J.K. Rowling]] in 2001,<ref>{{cite web |title=Rowling puts a pile of cash on mansion |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/rowling-puts-pile-cash-mansion-2470140 |newspaper=[[The Scotsman]] |access-date=19 January 2022 |date=21 November 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119015213/https://www.scotsman.com/news/rowling-puts-pile-cash-mansion-2470140 }}</ref> and she married Neil Murray there, the ceremony being held in the library on 26 December 2001.<ref name="Sexton2006">{{cite book|last=Sexton|first=Colleen A.|title=J. K. Rowling|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v5Qu6O9dXnkC&pg=PA94|year=2006|publisher=[[Lerner Publications]]|isbn=978-0-8225-3423-5|page=94}}</ref><ref name="SmithUnknown2003">{{google book|title=J.K. Rowling: A Biography|id=UE8GVX6bpIYC|date=May 2003|page=217}}</ref>
==Architecture== The current house was built in 1865. A freestanding [[dovecote]], built from rubble at this time, is a [[Listed building#Scotland|grade B listed feature]], having a "[[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic]], symmetrical frontage with centre tower and pyramid roof", with [[jerkinhead|jerkin-head gables]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-19831-killiechassie-dovecot-weem/map|title=Killiechassie, Dovecot|publisher=Britishlistedbuildings.co.uk|accessdate=30 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=Perth and Kinross |page=90 |chapter=Doocots |author=John Gifford |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=9780300109221}}</ref> However, the house remains classified as a Georgian property,<ref name="BeahmKirk2007">{{cite book|last1=Beahm|first1=George|last2=Kirk|first2=Tim|title=Muggles and Magic: An Unofficial Guide to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Phenomenon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oCGm8JiXP1cC|date=28 February 2007|publisher=[[Hampton Roads Publishing]]|isbn=978-1-57174-542-2|page=19}}</ref> and ''[[Country Life (magazine)|Country Life]]'' observed that it retains the feel of a [[Georgian architecture|Georgian building]], although with intensive alteration, and now features double-glazing, "[[mock-Georgian]]" doors, and "fake stone cladding".<ref>{{cite book|title=Country Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3FMAAAAYAAJ|year=1988|page=64}}</ref>
[[Aberfeldy distillery]] (part of the [[Dewar's]] group), school, [[Castle Menzies]] and [[George Wade#Scotland|General Wade]]'s bridge across the Tay at Aberfeldy are in the vicinity.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{J. K. Rowling}}
[[Category:Country houses in Perth and Kinross]] [[Category:Category B listed buildings in Perth and Kinross]] [[Category:Houses completed in 1865]] [[Category:Georgian architecture in Scotland]] [[Category:Dovecotes]] [[Category:J. K. Rowling]]