Description

16th - 17th century. Small single storey and raised basement, 2-bay, rectangular-plan, crowstepped building formerly incorporating brewhouse and bakehouse in basement with laundry at ground. Sited on ground falling steeply to W garden and River Tay, and overlooking small courtyard to E, with mid 20th century link to Dowery House at NE, abutting Surrounding Wall at W and Chapel to S. Random rubble with roughly squared quoins and margins, voussoirs and steeply pitched roof with eyelid dormer openings

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: very low, 2-bay E (courtyard) elevation with steeply pitched roof over timber door off-centre right and small window at left. W (garden) elevation with raised basement incorporating centre door and flanking tiny windows below paired dormer windows at centre and flanking rooflights.

8-pane glazing pattern in timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Coped ashlar stacks with thackstanes; ashlar-coped crowstepped skews with beak skewputts.

SURROUNDING WALLS AND SUNDIAL TO SW:

Mid 19th century, probably incorporating remains of demolished 1781 block. Buttressed rubble walls on raised ground overlooking River Tay with ashlar gablet coping and attached 1957 terminal-type, square sundial, sited to S end of wall.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: ball-finialled, square sundial with hollow dial in square panel to each face; N and S faces with gnomons, E face with incised carving '1957 GANG WARILY'.

Statement of Interest

Formerly listed as 'Stobhall, Laundry, Brewhouse and Bakehouse Block' and 'Stobhall Surrounding Walls'. Part of A Group with HB numbers 79, 5473, 5475, 5477, 5479-81 and 43856. Prominently located on a significant raised site this small, little-altered, vernacular structure forms an important element of the Stobhall courtyard. The brewhouse and bakehouse is an excellent and rare example of its type. Originally serving a vitally important role in the running of the household, it was linked with the Dowery House in the 1950s. The group surrounds the main courtyard to the E and the lower courtyard to the W which is bounded by the early surrounding walls (see above) and overlooks terraced gardens bordered by the River Tay.

Macgibbon & Ross describe the laundry as a building of 'most quaint appearance, with its low side walls only 3 or 4 feet in height, and its lofty roof seeming to rise almost from the ground'. They also mention the bakehouse oven which was removed during the 1950s. The Macgibbon & Ross entry is misleading in that the plan is incorrectly oriented.

The sundial, carved with the Clan Drummond motto 'Gang Warily', is of traditional appearance and replicates the cap of a detached obelisk-type dial (listed separately) in the Formal Garden to the N of Dowery House. A slightly different style of facetted dial (also listed separately) is located in the Octagonal Garden to the NE of Dowery House. A further simple terminal-type dial is located at the NW angle of the terrace walls.

List description revised June 2007.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17575245

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

• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)