Description

Campbell Douglas, dated 1870. 2-storey, raised basement and attic, irregular-plan, Baronial-style country house. Snecked and bull-faced pink rubble, polished dressings, grey slate roof. Basement course; windows mostly plate-glass, single and bipartite, transom and mullion with chamfered reveaks and relieving arches, some pedimented dormerhads with finials and sculptural decoration; some glazed shot-hole type openings; various inscribed panels; round and rectangular rainwater goods with dated and initialled hoppers; crowstepped gables, moulded ridge stacks, decorative ridge tiles.

E ELEVATION: door to left re-entrant approached by forestairs, moulded architrave in slightly advanced doorpiece with window and Renaissance- style aedicule above, dormerheaded window to attic; bay to left with door to basement under forestair at right, segmental-arched window to principal floor, bipartite to 1st, small bipartite to attic; rounded stair tower to far left with various small openings and windows, stone-slated conical roof; single storey service court wall to outer left with moulded segmental-arched carriage entrance, moulded string course and coped crenellated parapet; advanced bay to right of door with window to left return, corbelled to 1st floor, segmental-arched window to ground floor, window and small opening to principal floor, rounded angle to right corbelled to square at attic with shot-hole and swept-down roof, window to gable left; recessed bay to far right, blank except for parapet walk and attic floor with elaborate pierced (Maybole type) dormerhead.

S ELEVATION: service court woth modern additions masks basement floor; centre bay has window with security grille to principal floor, tripartite stair window above with balustrade to wallhead; rounded stair tower to right with lower lean-to to left return; advanced gable to left, window with security grille to right, small window to 1st floor, small corbelled lean-to to 1st floor right return.

W ELEVATION: advanced gable to left with arrow slit ventilator at basement, bipartite window to principal floor, corbelled 1st floor with smaller bipartite flanked by conically roofed bartizans, small opening to gable above; recessed bay to right, basement masked by modern conservatory, 3 windows to principal floor, single and bipartite dormerheaded windows to 1st floor, conically roofed bartizan to right.

N ELEVATION: off-centre door with moulded doorcase to centre bay, bipartite window to 1st and 2nd floor, wallhead stack; large oriel window to principal floor right with wrought-iron grilled window set within corbelling below; inscribed panel to right, pedimented dormerhead to left; slightly advanced bay to far left masked at basement by modern addition, 2 windows to principal floor, bipartite to 1st, corbelled parapet walk, attic window to gable.

INTERIOR: part panelled inner hall with elaborate 3-flight scale and platt staircase with turned balusters and balustrade at landing, carved newel posts, timber ceiling, large expanse of lincrusta-clad walls, 17th century-style stone chimneypiece inscribed 'VAH INCALVI VIDI IGNEM' ('Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire', isaiah ch45, v16). Principal floor room reputed to be former chapel with panelled dado, stencilled doors and shutters, richly ornamented frieze and cornice, depressed-arched Byzantine-detailed recess with animal pattern carved capitals; moulded cornices and ceiling roses elsewhere, most chimneypieces removed.

WALLED GARDEN: cope drubble masonry walls with brick lining forming

3 sides of a walled garden to NW; modern knot garden adjoining house to W.

BOUNDARY WALLS, RAILINGS AND 'GREYSTANE': rubble wall with round coping to N and E; cast-iron railings to NE angle revealing a glacial boulder, he 'greystane' or 'paddock stone'.

Statement of Interest

Greystane House was built for David M Watson of the nearby Bullionfield Paper Mill and his wife Hannah Parker; their initials and the date 1870 appear on the rainwater hoppers and various other places. There are various inscriptions including 'PAX INTRANTIBUS SALUS EXEUNTIBUS' (peace to those coming in and safety to those going out) at the front door and 'GOD GIVE THE BLISING TO THE PAPER CRAFT IN THE GOOD REALM OF SCOTLAND' at the west elevation. David Watson was an antiquarian and a supporter of the Free Church. There was formerly an entrance gateway at the south east with iron gates reputedly from Old St Paul's Cathedral, London. The modern additions to the building detract from its aesthetic integrity. The lodge (listed separately) is in separate ownership. The 'greystane' or 'paddock stone' is a Scheduled Monument.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17814216

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)