2 The Cross, Main Street, Penpont, Penpont, Dumfries and Galloway

Description

Early 19th century, two-storey, three-bay former public house and Temperance Hotel (with later change of use and subdivision to form Nos. 2 and 3 The Cross), built in squared and coursed red sandstone with ashlar margins, all painted white. The street (south) elevation is almost symmetrical with a centered door set within a corniced stone-slab porch.

The first floor windows are set just below the eaves. There is a bipartite window to the left of the main door. There are timber sash and case windows and to the right hand side of the front elevation and to the side (to No. 3 The Cross) are uPVC replacement windows. The roof is piended to the east side and has corniced end stacks, and is roofed with graded grey slates. There is a two-storey, two-bay wing adjoining the rear elevation forming an L-plan.

The interior, seen in 2018, has been subdivided so that the third bay and rear wing now form No. 3. There is a stone staircase with timber handrail at No. 2, and a timber staircase at No. 3. The basement level has been infilled.

To the rear, a single-storey, mono-pitch outbuilding range with sliding timber doors (probably built as overnight stabling accommodation and later altered to garage or storage function) extends to the north. There is also a cobblestone yard to the rear.

Statement of Interest

Nos. 2 and 3 The Cross is a largely intact and representative example of a building of classical design influence at the centre of an early 19th century Dumfriesshire planned village settlement. The proportions of the external elevations, the monolithic porch, the uninterrupted piended roofline and shared design with No. 1 The Cross (listed separately - LB17264), add to this building's interest. It is as a key component part of the early 19th century development of Penpont and contributes to the special architectural and historic interest of the planned group of buildings at The Cross. The surviving archway access to the rear yard (listed with No. 1 The Cross) and the surviving outbuildings also help to illustrate the early commercial development of the village after 1800.

Age and Rarity

Dating from the early part of the 19th century, Nos. 1 and 2 (and 3) The Cross are 'a pair of late Georgian houses' (Gifford, p.487) with 'corniced porches of monolithic slabs of the local sandstone' (Hume, p.62). They are part of the early 19th century planned core of the village, which consists of a stylistically related group of houses and shops arranged around a central cross roads. At two storeys, these buildings would have had a relatively significant status within the village. The chamfered corner doorways with moulded corbels at all four corner buildings at The Cross indicate a planned programme of development and rebuilding to improve the village during the early 19th century.

No. 2 (and 3) The Cross is shown occupying its present footprint on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, surveyed in 1856. It is marked on that map as a Public House and may have also operated as an inn at that time. The long single-storey range to the rear of No. 3 is first shown on the 2nd Edition map (revised in 1899). From around 1900, while in the ownership of Buccleuch Estates, the building became a Temperance Hotel (and a convalescent hotel for soldiers during the First World War) until around 1950, before returning to domestic use. The property is understood to have been subdivided internally during the 1970s or early 1980s, to form 2 and 3 The Cross.

Dumfries and Galloway contains a good number of large and small 'planned' villages and settlements. These villages developed primarily between 1780 and 1850 to house tenant farmers displaced as a result of advances in agricultural industrialisation. During this period, landowners invested in housing and small scale industry such as textiles, brewing and tanning to diversify an economic base that had until that time been largely dependent upon agriculture. These planned villages and towns form the basis of the present-day settlement structure in the Dumfriesshire area. Wigtown, Gatehouse-of-Fleet and Thornhill are good examples of larger planned towns in the region.

The village of Penpont developed in the early 19th century as a planned settlement. The Ordnance Survey name book from 1856 notes the village was by that time 'neat and clean - the houses for the most part one storey high and in good repair' (OS, 1856). A newspaper report from 1863 noted that amenity in the village is 'much improved. It is now provided with gas, gravitation water and a public hall [and] it is not without significance now that the toll in the village is leased at a higher sum than any toll in the county of Dumfries' (Glasgow Morning Journal, 1863). During the 19th century, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury is understood to have owned around six-sevenths of the parish of Penpont (Groome, 1882) which is also home to the family seat of Drumlanrig Castle, around 2 miles north of the village.

While houses of the early 19th century that have been inspired by classical architectural design are not a rare building type, Nos. 2 and 3 (along with the associated and contemporary No 1. The Cross and the rear archway) is a largely intact example of its building type. It also forms a prominent part of the planned development at the core of this village during the early 19th century. The slab sandstone porches (at both. No 1 and No. 2 The Cross) are distinctive features that add to the group interest of the buildings. The archway access to the rear yard (listed with No. 1 The Cross), the cobblestone yard and the outbuildings to the rear also contribute to the grouping, illustrating the early commercial development of the village after 1800.

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

The interior of No. 2 (seen in 2018) has a stone staircase with a timber handrail. The interiors have been largely remodelled during the 20th century with few fixtures of fittings of early 19th century character surviving. There is no special interest under this heading.

Plan form

The symmetrical rectangular plan form of the house, with wing to the rear and central (prior to the subdivision) internal staircase, is not unusual for a domestic property dating from between 1800 and 1850 however the plan form is of interest for its relative lack of alteration. The survival of the rear cobbled yard and outbuilding range, likely to have been used to overnight horses, reflect the use of the property as a public house/inn and hotel between 1850 and 1950, and also contribute to the special architectural or historic interest of the property.

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

The building largely retains its classically-influenced symmetrical principal elevation and the smaller early 19th century window proportions with generous amounts of wall space. The upper storey windows lying close to the eaves line, the piended roof with uninterrupted roofline, and distinctive design elements such as the corniced slab porch and chimneys set in from the eaves, are characteristic of early 19th century dwellings of some stature. The use of quality building materials including red sandstone and the relationship with other buildings at the corners of The Cross illustrate the planned development that took place in Penpont in the early 19th century. The plate glass and four pane windows are later 19th century alterations but are in keeping with the traditional character of the building; the plastic windows installed in part of the building do detract to some extent from the historic character of the building.

Setting

Nos. 2 and 3 The Cross form part of a group of early 19th century buildings at the planned centre of the village of Penpont. All of the buildings at the corners of The Cross are listed including the former toll house, now the post office (LB17228) to the southeast, the piend-roofed house (LB17288) to the southwest, the house and former shop (LB17227) to the northwest, and No.1 The Cross (LB17264) to the northeast. These key buildings illustrate the expansion, partial rebuilding and development of the village during an important period of agricultural and socio-economic change in Scotland. The present setting and arrangement of the buildings at The Cross has not changed significantly from that shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1856).

Regional variations

Red sandstone is a locally occurring material, abundant in this area of Dumfries. It is a common characteristic of the historic buildings within the village of Penpont and was used extensively for buildings erected by the Buccleuch/Queensbury Estate, as well as other significant landowners in the region.

Close Historical Associations

There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2018).

The use of the building as a convalescent hotel for soldiers during the aftermath of the First World War is of local historical interest, although this interest is not directly reflected in the surviving form or material fabric of the building.

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2018. Previously listed as 'Penpont Village Main Street 2 The Cross'.

External Links

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