Description

Circa 1780, restored 1931. Single storey and attic with 3-storey central tower and 2-storey terminating blocks, 15-bay, rectangular courtyard-plan former stable block with single wing to W. Tooled coursed sandstone tower, harled to remainder with predominantly polished sandstone and cement faced dressings. Strip quoins. Base course; projecting cills; eaves course; sandstone gableted dormers breaking eaves to attic floor with decorative finials.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: symmetrical; 15-bay; arranged 4-3-1-3-4; square-plan clock tower to centre, depressed-arched pend leading to courtyard at ground floor, blind window above, 1932 clock to centre of 2nd floor; 4-part domed roof surmounted by square-plan lantern with weathervane to apex. 2 3-bay blocks adjoining to left and right, architraved doorways with scrolled datestone above reading "1931", and 2-leaf panelled timber doors to flanking bays to left and right, with window either side of door at ground floor, dormer centred to attic floor; panelled 2-leaf timber door to ground floor of centre bay to left block, window to centre of ground floor to block to right, ogee-gableted dormer above; 2 windows to ground floor of bays to outer right and left, singe dormer above. 2-storey, 4-bay terminating blocks to outer left and right, 2 panelled timber doors with decorative timber fanlights to ground floor of centre 2 bays to block to left, regular fenestration to remainder of block; single doorway to penultimate bay to left of block to right, regular fenestration to remainder, 4-light skylights to attic.

NW ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 12-bay, with single storey block adjoining to outer right; blank gabled bay advanced to left, with regular fenestration to ground and 1st floors of right return; gabled bay recessed to right, 18-pane window to centre with blind sandstone curvilinear gablehead, window to right of ground floor; 10-bay block stepped down to right, central tripartite window, 2 doorways to outer right, regular fenestration to remainder, ventilators and skylights to attic; block stepped down to outer right, 2 sliding doors, glazing strips to attic; large doorway to gabled right return.

SW ELEVATION: predominantly blank; gabled bay to outer right, modern irregular glazing, flanked to left by doorway and depressed-arched pend to courtyard.

SE ELEVATION: not seen 1999.

COURTYARD ELEVATIONS: depressed-arched pends to NE and SW; windows centred to 1st and 2nd floors of tower; variety of panelled and boarded timber doors flanked by regular fenestration; broad small-pane rectangular dormers to attic floors.

Predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof with tiled ridge. Coped stone skews. Harled and brick gablehead and ridge stacks with circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: not seen 1999.

Statement of Interest

A-Group with East Lodge, Hanging Garden, Ice House, Oswald Hall, Oswald's Temple, Walled Garden, West Lodge and Wilson Hall (see separate listings). The Auchincruive Estate was owned by the Wallace family in the 13th century. There were a variety of owners until the 18th century when James Murray of Broughton sold it to Richard Oswald, entrepreneur and merchant, in 1764. The estate remained in the Oswald family until 1925, when they sold it to a local farmer John M Hannah, who gifted it to the West of Scotland Agricultural College in 1927, under whose ownership it remains (1999). The elegant symmetrical front of the home farm, Gibbsyard, interestingly hides the asymmetrically placed courtyard reached through the pend under the sandstone clock tower. The clock which was gifted by Mr Cowieson of Kilmarnock House, Alexandria in 1932, was restored in 1994. Gibbsyard was extensively restored in the 1930's, elements of the detailing, such as curvilinear gableheads to NE and especially that to the NW suggest the influence of Robert Lorimer, or perhaps the involvement of his partner, John F Matthew who continued to practice as Lorimer and Matthew after Lorimer's death in 1929. D S McPhail was clearly also influenced by Lorimer when he designed the nearby Wilson Hall in the Scots-baronial style manner (see separate listing).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17853670

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings