Description

17th century. 2-storey, 2-bay house (now 2 flats); later 2-storey wing downhill to S. Harled; chamfered stone surrounds to all windows and doors in uphill section; forestair.

E (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: ground floor door (entrance door to ground floor flat) below forestair; chamfered stone surround to left. 1st floor door above to right. Forestair from right; moulded stone steps; replacement timber railing and upper step. Advanced single bay section to left; ground floor window; 1st floor window centred above; National Trust for Scotland (NTS) plaque to right. Single ground and 1st floor window in right return; indecipherable inscription on stone corbel above right of 1st floor window. Advanced, lower, later section to far left; ground floor window to right; 1st floor catslide dormer window centred above.

S ELEVATION: 2 ground and 2 1st floor windows. Plain S gable of N section; later S section attached to right.

W ELEVATION: plain elevation to later S section. W elevation of uphill, N section partially visible, 2 1st floor windows.

N ELEVATION: attached to The Ark B.

Varied glazing, 12-pane timber sash and case windows and windows with 3-panes to upper sash, 6 to lower. Replacement, studded timber boarded doors; replacement tirling pins. Pitched roofs; crowstepped gables to uphill house; S gable end stack, circular clay cans. Roof extended to form porch over forestair and adjacent advanced section to left with skew crowstepped halfway. Moulded skewputt to right carved with veiled woman's head (hidden by guttering at present, 2001). Clay pantiles to all.

INTERIOR: modern interior; coved ceiling to upper flat. Ashlar stone doorway to original ground floor entrance door (in original elevation), set back from present entrance door.

REAR YARD WALLS AND FIREPLACE

Timber door to far left leads into yard behind S section. Rubble stone walls to W and S; low rubble wall to N. Central drain in yard, flagstone floor. Blocked door in S wall. Ashlar fireplace surround, curved stone mantel shelf in W wall.

Statement of Interest

Moulded steps are a typical feature at a number of Culross buildings, also to be seen at 7 The Cross and 7 Mid Causeway. The Nunnery takes its name from the skewputt carved with a veiled head of a woman. The remains of the fireplace to the rear indicate that the lower later section of The Nunnery replaces an older building, the fireplace belonging to this earlier phase. 1950's drawings (stored at the NMRS) by Ian G Lindsay and Partners for the NTS, show the plans for converting The Ark, Ark B and the Nunnery into one house. There are further plans dated 1960, for the rehabilitation of the 3 buildings as 3 separate dwellings. It was converted into 2 flats in 1964. For brief history of Culross Burgh see Culross, The Cross, The Study.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17804773

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)