Bamff House

Bamff House is a much-altered 16th century tower house, and home to the Ramsays of Bamff.

The lands of Bamff were granted to Neish Ramsay, physician to Alexander II, along with the lands of Fyal, Ardormie and Kineadly on the 8th of October 1232. Bamff has remained in the Ramsay family ever since.

Between 1580 and 1595 a rectangular tower house was built, replacing an earlier castle, the exact location of which is uncertain. It may have been sited to the west of the new tower, and may possibly have been surrounded by a moat.

The new tower consisted of three storeys plus an attic. The basement level is vaulted and split into two chambers, and originally had a well sunk into the ground below.

Two gun loops face west at ground floor level, while the original entrance is thought to have been at the north-east of the tower, with a stair somewhere on the east side.

In October 1656 Thomas Ramsay, son of Gilbert Ramsay of Bamff, married Jean Lumsdaine, daughter of Colonel James Lumsdaine of Innergellie and Christian Rutherford. She later married David Erskine of Dun and was the mother of David Erskine, the future Lord Dun, in 1666.

In the 18th century the vaulted ceiling of the original basement kitchen being cut to create space for a library above, and in 1828 a three storey wing was added to the east.

The whole house was remodelled in 1844 by William Burn. This included the addition of a new entrance wing to the original tower, with a corbelled turret in the re-entrant angle, while the ground level was lowered in front of the house to give the effect of raising the basement level above ground.

With the entrance level altered, a double external staircase which had previously given access to first floor level was removed. New spiral staircases were added to the back, north side of the house at this time, dormer windows were installed in the 1828 wing, and new extensions were built including a brewhouse.

Further extensions in the 1920s to the north-east side of the house, providing accommodation for servants, have given Bamff House a U-plan layout, with the original 16th century tower at the south-west corner. It now forms the centre of an estate which is home to wild boar and European beavers, as the current laird, Paul Ramsay, is a committed environmentalist.