East Lodge, Traquair House, Traquair, Scottish Borders

Description

1880-1881 for Hon. Henry Constable Maxwell Stuart (16th Laird). 2-storey, irregularly bayed, rectangular-plan hybrid Picturesque/Tudor Gothic lodge with decorative barge-boarding to bracketed gables and circular tower with battlemented parapet on corbel course. Harled and painted (whinstone) with red sandstone ashlar dressings. Deep base course with sloped drip arris, sill and moulded band courses.

SW (DRIVE) ELEVATION: to ground floor right, single storey single squared entrance bay with timber panelled door with rectangular fanlight surmounting, projecting cornice concealing flat-roof; 2-storey round tower rising behind (see SE elevation). To centre, advanced 1?-storey gabled end with central 3-sided canted bay window with piended roof to ground floor; overhanging eaves with decorative wave barge-boarding and heavy decorative timber bracing to gablehead, ball and spike finial surmounting. To left, recessed lean-to (see NW elevation).

SE (ROAD) ELEVATION: to left, 2-storey circular tower with square headed windows to ground floor and arched-headed windows to 1st floor (with blind arrow slit), corbel course with heavy battlemented parapet. To right, gabled end with arch-headed tripartite window to ground floor and similar bipartite to 1st floor, both hoodmoulded; overhanging eaves with decorative wave barge boarding and heavy decorative timber bracing to gablehead, ball and spike finial surmounting.

NW AND NE ELEVATIONS: to NW, single storey lean-to concealing ground floor with 3 regularly placed windows and a timber rear entrance door; rest of elevation blind. Plain NE elevation.

Plate glass glazing in timber sash and case windows, arched upper sashes to road elevation; 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case window to centre of SW bay window. Pitched grey slate roof with lead ridging, flashing and valleys. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods. Stepped octagonal ashlar stacks with moulded neck copes and matching yellow cans.

INTERIOR: plan slightly adapted with the addition of single storey lean-to section to rear; most original timber work survives (including windows, panelled doors and skirting boards).

GATEPIERS, GATES AND BOUNDARY WALLS: pair of tall cylindrical ashlar gatepiers (now harled and painted) with red sandstone moulded base course and moulded rounded caps. Plain painted wrought-iron gates with dogbars (single gate to pedestrian entrance adjoins gatepier and entrance of main house, pair of similar gate to vehicular entrance rising into arched centre). Harled boundary walls with stone copes extending NE from lodge and terminating in a squared pier with low pyramidal cap and SW from gatepier; both meet high random rubble estate walls with rough semi-circular coping.

Statement of Interest

A-Group with Traquair House, Exedra, Bridge on East Drive, Summerhouse, Tea room, Office, Craft Workshops, Walled Garden, Gardener's Cottage, Bear Gates and Avenuehead Cottages. This lodge was erected as part of estate improvements in the later 19th century. Traquair House was under the tenure of the Hon. Henry Constable Maxwell Stuart (16th Laird) during this time and although he spent most of his time at Scarthingwell Hall, Yorkshire, Traquair was extensively used during the shooting season. He had inherited the estate from his cousin Lady Louisa in 1876 and assumed the name of Stuart. Until this period, the main form of formal access had been down the drive adjacent to the Bear Gates Avenue; an informal route led down towards Gardener's Acre. The east of the estate was given over to trees and a bleaching green and wash house; this had no formal means of access other than from the house and court of outbuildings adjacent to the walled garden. It was necessary for visitors to the estate to journey through Traquair Village if coming from Innerleithen or the East. A ford was provided over the Quair Water to the north east of the house but this was not a favoured entry to the grounds. A drive was planned to the east of the house. It followed the original route to the bleaching green (which was then discontinued) and then arched gently towards the Quair Water. When it reached here it was necessary to build a formal bridge rather than a ford, which could not be relied on if the water was to rise too high. The bridge and lodge are of similar style, both employing battlemented circular forms (the piers on the bridge and the tower on the lodge) carried on corbels. The lodge is rather decorative compared to the other buildings of the Traquair Estate which are older and plainer. It follows the picturesque style employed for a lot of lodges in Peeblesshire dating from this time (see Cardrona, The Glen, Kailzie and Holylee Estates, all listed separately). The gatepiers are also tailored to suit the look of the lodge. Gatepiers on the Traquair Estate are normally tall and cylindrical, but usually they are not harled and terminate in rough semi-circular caps of the same material as the pier. The caps on these piers are of red sandstone like the dressings on the lodge. It is believed the gates are of a later date. Together with the bridge, the lodge is important, as they are good examples of the late 19th century development of the estate.

External Links

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