Bear's Den, Spottiswoode, Westruther, Scottish Borders

Description

Groom's house dating from circa 1777, with later additions and alterations (including 1796); 1798, dog kennel; 19th century glasshouse. U-plan single storey stable block with coach houses and 2-storey groom's house to centre rendered with red sandstone dressings, rubble and whinstone to wings of building, harled to rear of groom's house and partly to rear of each coach house; red sandstone kennels to W. Cill course to 1st floor windows of groom's house; Gibbsian surrounds to windows, dentilled eaves course. Gibbsian surrounds to coach house and to W elevation of left wing; base course to kennels and cornice.

S ELEVATION OF GROOM'S HOUSE AND COACH HOUSE: symmetrical with 3-bay house to centre. 2-leaf later timber door to centre with console- bracketed-dentilled pedimented doorpiece, 4-pane rectangular fanlight (formerly a radial rectangular fanlight) and Venetian window at 1st floor above; windows to flanking bays. 3-bay single storey coach house to either side with Doric colonnade (1 pilaster). Window to each bay adjacent to groom's house; slatted double doors to outer left; openings altered later (1930s) to be single windows to each bay; door with red sandstone plain margin to outer left, with date stone at lintel, carved 1796.

S ELEVATION OF WINGS: gabled with kneelers and bracketed skewputts; pair of blinded (with timber board, except to right of W block) circular openings with Gibbsian surrounds at ground, with intricate Gothick glazing painted in opening to left of W block; pointed-arch stop-chamfered opening above, boarded and with timber horizontal hoisting post.

S ELEVATION OF KENNELS: 3-bay symmetrical block; pedimented and advanced bay to centre; flush panelled doors to each bay with now blinded holes near ground, and with rectangular fanlights above each. Ovoid plaque in pediment with Spottiswoode crest (eagle) and date, 1798. Paved area in front with whinstone and coped boundary wall, arrow-headed cast-iron railings.

COURTYARD W ELEVATION: 7-bay symmetrical block. Circular niche with Gibbsian surround to centre; windows to each of flanking bays; pedimented doorpieces to penultimate bays, with boarded doors, and 4-pane rectangular fanlight above door to right; windows to outer bays.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: 2-storey addition to centre of groom's house with stairwindow at 1st floor; single storey addition to right with door; later window to outer left of E coach house, boarded door. Boarded door approximately to centre of W coach house with window to right and single storey monopitch addition to penultimate bay and window in bay to outer right.

12-pane timber sash and case windows. Slate roof to groom's house with coped skews and ornamental scrolled skewputts, terracotta ridge tiles, brick gablehead stacks; slate roof to coach houses and stable blocks, with single pane and 2-pane skylights at regular intervals, exposed raft beams and ogeed to rear. Vent near ridge of

rear roof of E block. Roof of kennels now collapsed.

INTERIOR TO GROOM'S HOUSE: shutters in place to principal ground floor room.

OUTBUILDINGS: parallel to house, to rear and W; single storey whinstone with ashlar dressings with archway openings to E with 2 doorways to outer right, boarded door to W and pigsties (now ruinous) to outer left. Outbuildings at right angles to E at rear of house with boarded door to left and archway opening to right. Both with slate roofs and with exposed rafters.

BEAR'S DEN, WELL, DOOCOT AND ICE HOUSE: in grounds of former house. Bear's den, small-scale stone structure of uprights and lintel. Stone-lined shallow well to ESE of stables with steps. Now ruinous doocot of circular-plan. Rectangular-plan small rubble icehouse to E of wall garden, with pantiled roof (now partially falling in).

WALLED GARDEN: rubble-walled garden to SE of groom's house with canted glasshouse, sandstone circular-section stand sundial, now without dial, rustic shelter made of unstripped pine possibly 20th century subdivided by grove of holly; raised area to north with glazed glasshouse and sundial; timber rustic shelter to E.

BOUNDARY WALLS: whinstone with rounded coping; cast-iron pointed-arched gateway, originally leading to grounds surrounding house (demolished). Mounting block to SE of courtyard, with ceramic tiles to W (added in 1940s).

Statement of Interest

The house of the estate was demolished in 1939 due to structural fault. The NW wing was Queen Anne in style altered in 1832-34 to harmonise with a Jacobean-styled wing adjoining it to the SW. The New Statistical Account mentions the existence of a "religious house" called Whitechapel, built by the lord of the manor during the reign of David II. It apparently "long stood in ruins, till these were entirely swept away when the ground was cleared for building the present office at Spottiswoode" (p71). According to T Barry and D Hall, these offices may well be the present groom's house, coach houses and stables. This might explain the use of Gothick detailing in the later end elevations of the wings. Apparently, the groom's house was formerly crowned by a cupola centrally placed with segmental-arched openings, ogeed roof

and a weathervane. The coach houses and wings may date from different periods, as the masonry and roofs differ (the E wing has a more pronounced if ogee roofto that of the W wing).

However no documentary evidence has been found to justify this suggestion. See also listings of Bruntaburn and Pyatshaw Archways, the Eagle or Clock Lodges and West Lodge.

External Links

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