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Dovecot, St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh

A Category B Listed Building in Edinburgh, Edinburgh

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Coordinates

Latitude: 55.9032 / 55°54'11"N

Longitude: -3.1626 / 3°9'45"W

OS Eastings: 327406

OS Northings: 668395

OS Grid: NT274683

Mapcode National: GBR 60C5.3Q

Mapcode Global: WH6ST.DW7F

Plus Code: 9C7RWR3P+7X

Entry Name: Dovecot, St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh

Listing Name: Howdenhall Road, St Catherine's Outbuildings and Walled Garden.

Listing Date: 5 March 1991

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 365595

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB28146

Building Class: Cultural

ID on this website: 200365595

Location: Edinburgh

County: Edinburgh

Town: Edinburgh

Electoral Ward: Liberton/Gilmerton

Traditional County: Midlothian

Tagged with: Dovecote

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Description

Early walled garden to E of St Catherine's house, with range of outbuildings against NW brick lined garden wall. Outbuildings incorporate at centre an 18th century lecturn dovecote, linked by later (?earlier 19th century) outbuildings to laundry to right and horse mill and gardener's cottage to left.

LAUNDRY: built probably circa 1835 at time of second scheme of extensions to house, perhaps as coach house, subsequently altered as laundry building; rectangular-plan; rubble-built with rusticated ashlar quoins (long and short); handsome classical SW and NW elevations, blind/blocked 3-centred arched opening at front (NW) and arcade to SW (3 arches, 2 with recessed margins). Slated piended roof with louvered gabletted ridge vent at centre flanked by pair axial steel vents. NE re-entrant elevation altered.

INTERIOR: subivided, with timber-panelled ceiling introduced at time of change to use as laundry.

DOVECOTE: lectern tupe; re-roofed; brick-blocked flight holes at centre in NW wall above rarcourse (on interior substantial stone brackets at flight holes, with 4 tiers of nesting boxes either side). Plain earlier 19th century rubble built lean-to LINKING RANGES: with alterations to ope nings. Octagonal HORSE MILL: red tiled roof; weather vane, mill machinery lost (horse mill drive shaft originally powered saw in building to NE). Gardener's cottage at end of range.

WALLED GARDEN: probably 17th century in origin (see note), altered and heightened in early 19th century: distinctive round/circular turret surviving at NW angle probably answered NE angle (where now only concave wall section remains) in original 17th century walled garden. Finials at NE and openings in SE wall introduced aerly 19th century.

Statement of Interest

The round/circular turrets of the walled garden at St Catherine's can be compared with similar features in the 17th century walled garden of Seton Palace, East Lothian (in 1603, on his progress south, James VI halted at the SW round tower of the orchard of Seton until the funeral of Robert, Lord Seton was over.

External Links

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