Description

Rebuilt 1808. Two-storey, three-bay inn. Painted and rendered walls. Base course; corniced fascia with 'Tam O' Shanter Inn'; painted margins to window openings.

Southwest (Entrance) Elevation: central pilastered and corniced doorpiece; two-leaf timber boarded door with an elaborate iron-work lantern above and framed picture at first floor. Single windows flanking at ground and first floor (left hand window at ground enlarged, smaller windows at first floor). Carved heads beneath outer windows between ground and first floors.

Northeast (Rear) Elevation: single storey lean-to ancillary structures with slated roofs.

Twelve-pane timber sash and case windows. Reed roof; turf ridge; mutual gablehead chimney stacks with circular cans.

Interior: stone floor; timber ceiling beams; fireplace; plaque.

Statement of Interest

The building is of particular note for retaining its reed-thatched roof (probably originally a straw thatch). Picture above entrance by J.A .Paterson in 1956. Associated with Robert Burns' poem of the same name (although there is nothing in the poem which allows even tentative identification with any of the many inns of the late 18th century). Close suggests the name was bestowed upon the inn by the enterprising publican John Glass, looking to increase trade (p.18).

It is among a relatively small number of traditional buildings with a surviving thatched roof found across Scotland. A Survey of Thatched Buildings in Scotland, published in 2016 by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), found there were only around 200 buildings of this type remaining, most of which are found in small rural communities. Thatched buildings are often traditionally built, showing distinctive local and regional building methods and materials. Those that survive are important in helping us understand these traditional skills and an earlier way of life.

Listed building record revised in 2021 as part of the Thatched Buildings Listing Review.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17836212

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

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)