Description

Dated 1680, extended 19th and 20th centuries. 3-storey laird's house. Harled with painted margins; stone mullions and architraved doorcase.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: widely spaced bays. Tripartite doorway with timber door at centre and window to outer right both behind modern single storey conservatory, mid-later 19th century canted window in bay to left of centre, single storey extension with French window to outer left; 1st floor with tall windows at centre and to right, canted window with cornice and blocking course, acroteria-detailed cast-iron balcony to left; 3 regular windows close to eaves at 2nd floor.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: basket-arched doorway with panelled timber door off-centre left, window to right of door with timber door beyond in advanced wall of small jettied extension and dominant projecting gable to outer right; window in bay to left of centre and timber gate to outer left in link wall to outhouse. 1st floor with window near centre right abutting small jettied extension also with window, blocked window by re-entrant angle with pediment of thistle finial to right, fleur-de-lys finial at apex and dated 1680 below entwined initials DB on tympanum, on return of projecting gable to; further window in bay to left of centre; 2nd floor with 2 large windows close to eaves at centre and in bay to left of centre. Single storey extension to W of projecting gable with 2 windows at centre (W) and 3 windows on return to left.

E ELEVATION: recessed centre with window at 1st floor, 2-storey projecting gable to right with windows to centre at both floors and 1st floor window on return, blind full-height projecting gable to left.

4-, 12- and 15-pane glazing pattern in timber sash and case windows, plate glass lower and 4-pane upper glazing in timber sashes to extension and modern uPVC windows to centre and left 2nd floor S and jettied extension. Purple slates. Broad coped and harled stacks with polygonal cans, coped ashlar skews with beak skewputts and thackstanes.

INTERIOR: curved staircase with decorative cast-iron balusters and timber handrail; decorative plasterwork cornices, panelling, frieze and centre roses; black and grey marble chimneypieces. Carved timber chimneypieces to extension.

OUTBUILDINGS: to N of house, single storey harled and pantiled bothy with ashlar coped skews, timber door with blocked letterbox fanlight and flanking windows to left of centre, small opening with flanking doors to right of centre. Deep random rubble wall to W of house with square-headed openings to S and E leading to vaulted chambers (ice-house?) under ground rising to N. Conservatory (after 1927) on brick base with pivot windows and decorative cast-iron finial.

BOUNDARY WALLS, GATEPIERS, GATES AND RAILINGS: walled garden with coped rubble boundary walls with pyramid-coped ashlar gatepiers and arrowhead cast-iron gates; low harled walls with inset cast-iron railings and square harled piers with ogee capping and ball finials.

Statement of Interest

Gifford says built for David Bonner in 1680, but Livingston is of the impression that it was built by the Melvilles, and later owned by the Aytouns of Inchdairnie with Robert Young in residence at the time of the NSA, the top floor added early 19th century and billiard room 1919. During recent internal renovations, a small Latin bible (thought to be 18th century) was discovered in a hole in the wall. Dovecot listed separately.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17793706

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

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)