Description

18th century with 19th and 20th century additions. 2-storey and attic, 3-bay, L-plan farmhouse with slightly advanced entrance bay rising to nepus gable, steading range extending from rear wing, and further detached steading range. Harled, creamwashed masonry with painted ashlar dressings. Boulder base course; eaves course. Regular fenestration with ashlar window margins.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: regularly fenestrated principal elevation to W with 20th century porch to entrance and small round-arched window to nepus. Irregular fenestration elsewhere. Adjoining 2-storey wing to rear with ladder to 1st floor door; single storey lean-to in re-entrant angle to rear with door to side elevation and window to rear. Single storey steading range attached to rear of SE wing. Detached parallel 2-storey rectangular-plan steading range to N.

Non-traditional uPVC windows. Ashlar-coped skews. Coped ashlar gablehead stacks with thackstanes and some buff clay cans. Grey slate roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Statement of Interest

A fine and early example of a substantial Ayrshire farmhouse with good architectural detailing and the remains of an extensive steading, occupying a prominent position in the landscape. Buildings are shown here on the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland (1654), but the current buildings appear to be later. The long, low proportions, narrow end gables, central nepus and boulder base course of the farmhouse suggest an 18th century date, and the existence of thackstanes implies that it was originally thatched. Parts of the steading may be of a similar date but they were certainly either altered or extended in the mid-19th century as contractors were advertised for in the Ayr Advertiser of 19 February 1857. The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map shows a simple L-plan building with slightly projecting central entrance bay, and associated steading buildings; the separate block to the north then formed the south-west corner of an extensive steading courtyard. The larger part of the rear entrance extension to the house had been added by the time of the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (1894'6). Alterations were approved by the New Buildings Sub-Committee of Ayr County Council on 15 March 1907 (Ayrshire Archives, CO 3/12/2/3), and the smaller lean-to currently containing the back door first appears on the 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey map (1907-9). The interior has been significantly remodelled. The steading block extending to the rear of the house originally contained millwheel workings.

According to local lore, the farm and hill on which it stands are named after the 'Guil Tree- (signifying 'guilt tree'), situated close to the farm entrance, which was used for hangings.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56620252

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

• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014