Description

Circa 1930. Pair of 1?-storey, 4-bay, Arts and Craft style, adjoined rectangular-plan cottages with steeply pitched roofs and smaller pitched and gabled side wings. Coursed local whinstone rubble with chamfered sandstone sills, lintels and mullions; whinstone rybats and quoins.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: Right cottage: plain entrance doorway containing timber door with 6 glazed panels to upper portion; slated canopy porch with timber brackets breaking eaves; square window to flanks of door; bipartite window with stone mullion to left. Left cottage: mirrored plan forming symmetrical elevation.

SW ELEVATION: main gable with window to upper left; lower pitched roof projecting wing adjoining to ground floor left and terminating in gabled end.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: to left and right, wings adjoining into main cottage forming continuous symmetrical 6-bay elevation to ground floor with single windows to bays 1 and 6, bipartite windows to 2nd and 5th bays and tripartite windows to 3rd and 4th bays. To high ?-storey, pair of catslide bipartite dormers (one for each cottage) with flat slated cheeks, aligned above bays 3 and 4.

NE ELVATION: main gable with window to upper right; lower pitched roof projecting wing adjoining to ground floor right and terminating in gabled end.

8, 9 and 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows; panes equally divided between sashes but 9-pane with 3-pane upper sash and 6-pane lower sash; upper sashes with horns. Steeply pitched slate roof with slate ridges and lead flashing; open verges in lieu of skews and putts. Bipartite timber catslide dormers to rear elevation with flat slated cheeks to rear elevation; single cast-iron Carron lights to centre of each cottage roof, on main elevation near eaves. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods. Unusual whinstone rubble end stacks rising in place of skews to front pitch of roof near apex, sandstone neck copes with paired replacement cans; shared squat stack (of similar materials and design) to centre of roofline with 4 cans.

INTERIOR: not seen, 2002 but currently in use as residential accommodation.

Statement of Interest

Sited on an attractive hillside overlooking the Tweed, these cottages are found high up on the east bank of Holylee Burn with (new) Holylee House on the west bank. Holylee was built for James Ballantyne of Old Holylee (both listed separately) following his marriage to Anne Henderson in 1821. Originally the family lived in Old Holylee house but James and his wife moved there. As 'laird', James was responsible for much of the new estate layout including the policies and woods, which surround the house. The main drive has been in its present form since the house was built. It followed the right bank of Holylee Burn up to the farmhouse but branched left near the walled garden and led to the new house. A separate drive was built to the east to lead directly to the farm and Old Holylee, which became accommodation for workers after a new farmhouse was built to the NE. These cottages are quite late for Arts and Crafts style but maintain a high quality of architectural detail with the unusually high attic storey lit by gablehead windows and rear catslide dormers. The end stacks too are unusual, appearing as gable apex stacks from the front, but actually adjoining the front of the pitched skew. Listed as a good example of a pair of unaltered earlier 20th century cottages with retained unusual features.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata IDs Q77778950 Q77778955

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.

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