Castle Grant
In 1755, John, Robert and James Adam were paid an instalment of just over £1100 for ongoing work on the enlargement of Castle Grant.
One of the benefits of this work lay in the pool of skilled tradesmen available in the north when ten years later the first houses in New Grantown were built.
These houses were of stone and lime with slate roofs unlike their owners’ previous homes with turf walls and thatched roofs.
It was Robert Adam who in later years designed Charlotte Square in Edinburgh’s New Town and it was at No 5 Charlotte Square that Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus was born in 1797.
Through those intervening years, the builders and architects of Grantown have been a significant presence in Strathspey and are rightly famous for their skills.
Bookies
As Grantown grew so did the number of merchants. In the earliest days trade came from travelling packmen but with the establishment of the town around its market place where fairs were held local business were established.
By 1800 it was a “thriving populous Village containing above 300 Inhabitants and every day increasing more and more”. The founder, Sir James Grant it was said…
“has great pleasure to see it in a thriving Situation full of Merchants, Weavers… Smiths, Carpenters, Shoemakers, Taylors, Coopers, Bakers …”
Today it is equally a thriving place with a vibrant High Street and many small private businesses.
Cars and tourists on Grantown’s high street