Description

Earlier 19th century with later glasshouse. Irregular-plan walled garden with arched N wall and serpentine S wall; buttressed angles forming additional fruit walls with glasshouse in S slip garden. Coursed random whinstone rubble with thin ashlar copes; entrances with droved tabbed quoins and smooth margins.

SW (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: lean-to timber and brick glasshouse to right with door in left return (partial remains of whitewash to walls suggesting larger glasshouse in past); additional range of brick, timber and glazing forcing frames adjoining low front wall of glasshouse; high blind curved wall to rest of elevation with shared angle buttress to W.

SE ELEVATION: shorter high wall with shared angle buttress to SE angle; various later sheds and structures adjacent.

NE ELEVATION: high wall with large rectangular cart entrance to extreme right (adjacent to NW angle buttress) with sliding corrugated-metal door; shared angle buttress to N angle

NW ELEVATION: straight high wall with shared buttresses to angles; timber boarded entrance door to right within tabbed surround.

Multi-paned, overlapped glazing to timber lean-to glasshouse with ventilators near ridge; semi-glazed timber panelled door.

INTERIOR: walls remain but original formal layout now lost.

Statement of Interest

Sited on an attractive hillside overlooking the Tweed, the house is found on the west bank of Holylee Burn with Old Holylee and the walled garden on the east bank. Holylee was built for James Ballantyne of Old Holylee (listed separately) following his marriage to Anne Henderson in 1821. Originally the family lived in the older house but James and his wife moved here. The 'new' Holylee was set within its own landscaped grounds and had a bleaching green to the rear. The walled garden is set to the east of the main house and is of a generous size. It is roughly rectangular-plan with a slightly arched N wall and serpentine S wall. It is sited on a hillside near the bottom of a valley and orientated a little to the west of normal south position to catch the afternoon sun; this would store warmth for when dusk fell. Surrounding the garden, there was a slip garden with a path adjacent to the outer hedge (still in existence). Part of the S slip garden still contains the glasshouse and forcing frames. The interior of the garden contained a path that followed the borders adjacent to the irregular walls and a central path running from a S entrance to a projecting range of structures on the N wall (possibly a gazebo or glasshouse to the interior of the garden with the potting shed and fruit rooms to exterior of the main wall). On an early map, the E half of the garden was formally laid out with a grid pattern of fruit trees. The S of the W half also contained trees in rows, but there was a formal parterre in the NW corner. The garden still retains its original shape and high walls; listed as a good example of a walled kitchen garden.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77778985

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

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)