Ardverikie (Gael. ard-a-bhuiridh, ` height of the roaring '), a mansion in Lochaber, Inverness-shire, on the N side of Loch Laggan, 20¾ miles WSW of Kingussie. It stands on a green flat, at the head of a small bay, flanked by a wooded promontory, and was built in 1840 by the Marquis of Abercorn. From 21 Aug. to 17 Sept. 1847 it was occupied by the Royal Family, and is described by her Majesty as ` a comfortable shooting-lodge, with many nice rooms in it. Stags' horns are placed along the outside and in the passages, and the walls of the drawing-room and anteroom are occupied with beautiful drawings of stags by Landseer ' (pp. 56-58 of the Queen's Journal, ed. 1877). Ardverikie afterwards passed into the possession of Sir John Ramsden of Byrom, Yorkshire; on 15 Oct. 1873 it was almost totally destroyed by fire, the damage being estimated at nearly £50,000. A mound in the garden is said to mark the grave of Fergus and four other ancient Scottish kings; the grounds around are said to have been a favourite hunting-field of many of the old Scottish monarchs; and in the lake are the Isle of Kings and the Isle of Dogs. The hunting grounds now comprise a great extent of moor and mountain, are some 40 miles round, and contain about 2000 red deer.
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