The Family Seat · Aberdeenshire
Leith Hall
A Scottish house shaped by one family across more than three centuries—rooted in a seventeenth-century tower and held today in trust for the nation.
House & Landscape
A Laird’s House in the Hills
Near Kennethmont in Aberdeenshire, Leith Hall stands within a layered estate of gardens, woodland and farmland. The house began around 1650 on the site traditionally associated with the earlier Peill Castle, then grew wing by wing into the courtyard residence seen today.
Its rooms, family collections and sheltered gardens preserve the character of a home that evolved with the fortunes, tastes and public service of the Leith and Leith-Hay families.
Architectural Timeline
A House Built Across Centuries
Each generation adapted Leith Hall while keeping the original tower at its core.
1650
The Original Tower House
James Leith of New Leslie built a compact rectangular house of three storeys with an attic. The north wing still contains this earliest fabric, including the entrance associated with the builder’s arms and those of his wife.
1797–1868
Courtyard Expansion
The residence expanded into a more formal country house. General Alexander Leith-Hay added the south wing in 1797, echoing the older work, while the east side rose and acquired a more castellated character. In 1868 the west entrance wing completed the courtyard.
1868–Modern Day
Later Additions & Preservation
From 1868 the entrance wing gained a billiard room; later work added drum turrets and an oak-panelled entrance, while the billiard room became the music room. In the mid-1940s Henrietta Leith-Hay presented the house to the National Trust for Scotland, preserving its layered family history.
Look Closely
Details Written in Stone
Leith Hall rewards close observation. Corbelled turrets recall the original tower-house vocabulary; battlements give later elevations a picturesque silhouette; carved heraldry records marriages and succession; and the enclosed courtyard makes the growth of the house legible at a glance.
01
Corbelled Turrets
Stone projections and round towers tie later wings back to the seventeenth-century core.
02
Heraldic Stonework
Armorial carvings turn entrances and courtyard walls into a record of family identity.
Rooms & Grounds
Four Views of Leith Hall
Exterior, garden and interior stories reveal a house designed for defence, display, music and family life.
Exterior
Irregular rooflines and wings reveal how the original tower became a country house.
Gardens
Walled terraces, paths and planting connect the house to its sheltered Aberdeenshire setting.
Music Room
Created from the former billiard room, the music room reflects the house’s later social and cultural life.
Dining Room
Family portraits, china and historic furnishings place formal dining within a deeply personal collection.
The Family
Leith, then Leith-Hay
For nearly three hundred years the house was the centre of the family’s Aberdeenshire story. James Leith established the seventeenth-century home; later generations enlarged it, and the combined Leith-Hay name came to represent inheritance, marriage, military service and attachment to the surrounding estates.
The result is more than an architectural sequence. Leith Hall carries evidence of individual lives—in portraits and objects, in heraldry, in rooms altered for new customs, and in the records preserved by descendants and researchers.
A Gift to the Nation
Presented to the National Trust for Scotland
In 1945, after the deaths of her husband Charles Edward Norman Leith-Hay and their son, Henrietta Leith-Hay presented Leith Hall and its grounds to the National Trust for Scotland under the country-house scheme.
The gift secured the future of a family home whose rooms and collections tell a continuous story. The Trust continues to care for the house, gardens and estate, balancing conservation with public access.
Continue the Story
Explore the Original Leith-Hay Archive
Read the family research, documents and historical material that informed this page, including the original account of Leith Hall’s development.