Description

Late 18th to early 19th century with later alterations and additions.

2 storey with attic, 3-bay rectangular-plan cottage ('Esk Cottage') with single storey wing to SE; detached, single storey over basement sawmill range at right angles to (NE) rear; free-standing single storey, 3-bay cottage closing third side of courtyard. Cream sandstone rubble with stugged sandstone tails to openings; rear of single storey wing harled; long and short quoins.

ESK COTTAGE: SW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 5-bay, grouped 3-2, (entrance faces out of courtyard). Timber panelled door (replaced) with geometric fanlight above at ground in bay to centre of main 3-bay block; window at 1st floor; dormer window above. Window, including dormer window, at each floor in bays flanking. Window in each bay to single storey block to outer right; small dormer window set between above; modern glazed door to left-hand side of right return.

NE (REAR) ELEVATION: window at each floor in each bay of main block; large bowed piended dormer window to centre of attic. Asymmetrical, single storey, 3-bay wing: modern glazed door with fanlight offset to right of centre with window to right; window in bay to left; small dormer to centre of attic.

NW ELEVATION: 2-storey, 2-bay gablehead elevation. Modern glazed door at ground in bay to right; window at 1st floor; oculus window to gablehead above. Window at each floor including oculus to gablehead above, in bay to left. Gablehead stack to centre above.

SAWMILL RANGE: Single storey, 6-bay with lower, lean-to additions to each end. 4 boarded doors with strip fanlights to right and 2 large windows to left of range facing courtyard. Window to lean-to block to SW end; boarded door to lean-to block to NE end. Gablehead stacks to each end above. Windows (some blinded) and basement doors to out-facing range.

SAWMILL INTERIOR: sawmill in basement, partially open through 2 floors; brick vault supporting ground floor platform at NE end.

COTTAGE: NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: faces out of courtyard. Single storey, 3-bay with lower addition, set back to left. Timber panelled door with strip fanlight in offset bay to right of centre. Window to each bay flanking.

SW (REAR) ELEVATION: Faces courtyard. Single window, unevenly disposed to each bay of main block. Part-glazed door to addition to right;

3 windows to right return of addition.

12-pane timber sash and case windows to Esk Cottage; fixed 16-pane windows to sawmill; variety of glazing patterns to cottage, including 12- and 16-pane timber sash and case; grey slate roof with piended slate dormers to Esk Cottage; corrugated asbestos roof to sawmill with modern covering to lean-to additions; slate to cottage with flat roof to addition; harled stacks to SE and NW gableheads to Esk Cottage with brick copes and dentilled cornice details; ashlar coped stacks to gableheads of sawmill; ashlar coped stacks to gableheads and one to mid of cottage; ashlar skews; cast-iron rainwater goods.

Statement of Interest

Established at a paper mill in 1770 as part of a much larger complex built circa 1764. It arrived at its present form by 1810, and is now converted to residential use although the sawmill is still in working order and used as such. The 1955 Statistical Accounts mention how paper had been manufactured in Lasswade village since 1750 and that Melville Mill had long been famed for the production of its hand-made paper. The cottage is probably slightly later, early 19th century, appearing on the 1810 Estate Plan along with the sawmill, built between 1790-1810. A Group with Melville Castle, Chestnut House, East Lodge, Garden Cottage, Garden Farmhouse, Walled Garden and Lodge, South Driveway Bridge, South Lodge, Walled Garden Steading, and Willie's Temple.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17827903

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

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House