Description

18th century dwelling house with outbuildings forming U-plan; refurbished 2001. 2-storey, 3-bay; squared and snecked rubble; raised, painted margins to main elevation.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: central door; single windows flanking; regular fenestration above at 1st floor. Single storey L-plan range to W: 4 windows on S front; 2 windows to left on W front; blind left return; 2 large openings on N front.

W ELEVATION: W range attached.

N ELEVATION: ground floor not seen 2001; circular window in centre of 1st floor; single windows flanking,

E ELEVATION: not seen 2001.

Crowstepped gables; stacks at gableheads; slate roof.

OUTBUILDINGS: L-plan range under re-construction 2001.

Statement of Interest

The lands of Newhouse were part of the Torrance estate; a memorial 'concerning the Heritable Subjects' belonging to Major General Stuart, dated 1793, included item 5: 'the lands of Newhouse in the parish of Kilbride'. Newhouse appears to have been built as a manse for the Reverend Matthew Connell in the late 1730s / early 1740s. A surviving Deed of Excambion, dated 27th November 1739, between 'Collonell James Stuart of Torrance upon the one part And the Reverend Mr Matthw Connell minister of the Gospel of the Paroch of Kilbryde' agreed that a house should be built at Newhouse, to accommodate the minister. This property was vacated in the 1790s, when Brousterland was rented for the minister. This change of accommodation was probably one of convenience - Newhouse is some distance from the Parish Church - but also of politics. Following the controversy of ecclesiastical patronage in 1793, the church may have felt it wise to minimise relations with the Stuarts of Torrance. In the New Statistical Account of 1845, Reverend Henry Moncreiff recalls that in 1820 the tenant of the house had removed all the soil from the neighbouring old kirkyard (St. Leonard's Kirk - a stone still marks the site) and used this 'human fertiliser' to enrich his own fields.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17849832

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)