Dunalastair house

Dunalastair Estate originally belonged to the Robertson family whose clan lived in and around this area. The clan name is Donnachaidh and there is a clan society of this name. Clan Donnachaidh names include Robertson, Duncan and Reid to name but a few. The great poet chieftain, Alexander Robertson of Struan, a staunch Jacobite, lived in a house called the Hermitage which is thought to have been on the site of or near to the current (ruined) Dunalastair House. The Hermitage was destroyed by fire after the 1745 Jacobite uprising. A double tower house was built on the site in 1801 but was burned down accidentally in 1854. The present house (now a ruin) was built in the 1860s when General Sir John Macdonald, who commanded the land forces in Scotland, owned the estate. Dunalastair House was designed by Mr Heiton, a Perth-based architect, who also designed the Atholl Palace Hotel and Dunkeld railway station amongst other buildings. It was really only used as it was built to be used up until the First World War because after that the staff needed to run such a big house were no longer available