Millbank Cottage, Sauchen, Westhill and District, Aberdeenshire

Description

Built by Robert Reid Shepherd, around 1902. Small, rectangular-plan, symmetrical single-storey and attic timber-boarded cottage with bargeboarded overhanging eaves. Granite base-course. Regular window arrangement.

East (principal) elevation: three-bay elevation. To ground floor, timber and glazed door in architraved opening to centre bay, architraved bipartite windows to left and right bays. To attic floor, to left and right bays, pitched-roof tripartite dormers with moulded timber mullions and transom, timber apex finials (missing to left bay) and barge-boarded overhanging eaves with kingposts. Small cast-iron roof-light to centre bay.

West (rear) elevation: single architraved window to centre.

North (side) elevation: brick chimney-back to centre, architraved window to right.

South (side) elevation: brick (with some granite rubble to base) chimney-back to centre, architraved window to right.

The window openings to the ground floor are plate glass in timber sash and case frames, those to the dormers have plate glass glazing in timber casement frames. Pitched corrugated iron roof, moulded bargeboards. To south and north, corniced brick gable-head apex stacks with octagonal cans (one now truncated).

Interior: entrance hall with timber-boarded walls and ceiling and timber stair with turned newel posts. South room has timber-boarded walls and ceiling and a moulded timber cornice. North room has a moulded timber cornice.

Historical background

Millbank croft was historically part of the Cluny estate and was owned by John Gordon of Cluny. The Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1865-71 describes the earlier stone-built cottage as one-storey in height and thatched (OS1/1/15/15). The timber cottage was built by Robert Reid Shepherd (1875-1951), a carpenter and joiner on the Cluny estate, in around 1902, just prior to his marriage to Mary Anne Littlejohn.

Millbank croft now comprises the timber cottage (facing east) and the earlier stone croft house (facing north), plus a corrugated metal agricultural shed at the southern extent of the croft which was built around 2021. An L-plan range of workshop and byre buildings in the centre of the croft (dating from the late-19th century) were demolished sometime after 2021.

Statement of Interest

It is a good representative, and largely unaltered, example of a vernacular timber building in the northeast of Scotland.

The surviving fabric continues to convey the building's character and showcases the craft of the builder.

In terms of its setting, it remains a distinctive historic building within the landscape and is visible from the road.

The survival of buildings of this type is rare. While houses are not a rare building type in Scotland, this is a bespoke and well-detailed example of a vernacular cottage which survives largely in its original form externally.

It has social historical interest for its contribution to the history of the Cluny estate and the carpentry business that operated from Millbank for over 100 years.

Architectural interest

Millbank Cottage is a good unaltered example of a vernacular timber building in the northeast of Scotland. The building still retains a significant amount of its early-20^th century fabric and form (2024).The surviving fabric conveys the building's historic character and its distinctive exterior detailing, in particular the bargeboarding, the window architraves and the dormers, are designed to give an overall artistic effect which is characteristic of a bespoke building. The property is constructed in locally sourced materials and showcases the craft of the estate joiner, Robert Reid Shepherd, whose work is of notable quality as well as being a tangible built reminder of the carpentry business that historically operated from this site.

The cottage is in a rural location, close to the roadside, and remains a distinctive building within the landscape. The loss of the historically and functionally related workshop buildings in the centre of the croft has changed the wider setting as it appeared in the early-20^th century, however the loss of these buildings and the addition of later structures hasn't adversely affected the overall historic character of the timber cottage.

Historic interest

Carpentry businesses operated from Millbank for over 100 years. The first of the Shepherd family, Alexander Shepherd, took over the croft and existing carpentry business in 1885. He was succeeded by his son, Robert Reid Shepherd, and later his grandson, Hugh (Aberdeenshire HER). Robert Reid Shepherd built Millbank Cottage for himself. He worked extensively for the Cluny estate and elsewhere in the northeast of Scotland. The work of a named carpenter is unusual and this building is a tangible built reminder of the carpentry business that historically operated from this site.

The survival of buildings of this type is rare. While houses are not a rare building type in Scotland, this is a bespoke and well-detailed example of a vernacular cottage which survives largely in its original form externally.

Listed building record revised in 2024.

External Links

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