Description

1779 (date stone) with early 19th century addition; alterations Benjamin Tindall Architects, 1992. 2-storey, 3-bay, rectangular-plan plain classical farmhouse with adjoining 1?-storey, 3-bay, rectangular-plan vernacular cottage and attached single storey, 7-bay bothy to SW. Harled and painted with sandstone margins; bothy with lime washed rubble rear elevation. Skew-gabled without putts.

FARMHOUSE (AND COTTAGE):

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: to left, main house with step leading to central timber panelled entrance door, plain margined surround and low fanlight with decorative curved glazing, single window to flanks; to 1st floor, 3 regularly placed bays, to attic pair of cast-iron Carron lights. To right, later 1?-storey cottage with semi-glazed timber entrance door off centre left with low 2-pane fanlight surmounting, window close on left flank, right window placed further along right flank; 3 stone wallhead dormers with timber gables breaking eaves (aligned with ground floor fenestration).

NE ELEVATION: blind gabled end of cottage, lean-to with small window projecting to right; to rear, higher gabled end of main house rising above line of cottage.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: to left, rear of lower cottage with blind lean-to (with low eaves) to most of ground floor and ?-storey blind; to right, main house with single windowed extension to ground floor right and single window to otherwise blind 1st floor; much later lean-to conservatory linking cottage and house lean-tos (together).

SW ELEVATION: gabled end of main house rising into gablehead stack, bothy adjoining at ground floor right.

BOTHY:

NE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: single storey, 7-bay harled bothy: to left, door with very small square window to flanks; to right, boarded timber door in bays 4 and 6 with rectangular windows to bays 5 and 7. Blind gabled end to left return; adjoining farmhouse to right return. Limewashed rubble elevation to rear (SW ELEVATION) with regular early fenestration; to attic, pair of modern Velux roof lights with cast-iron Carron lights to outer flanks.

12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows to farmhouse and altered bothy; some 4-pane and plate glass replacement window to rear of bothy; cast-iron 2-pane Carron lights to attics. Pitched slate roof with replacement ridging and flashing (also covering skews). Tall harled gablehead stacks with sandstone ashlar margins and end elevations, projecting moulded neck copes and hexagonal cans. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods (gutter of cottage crossing windows of attic dormers).

INTERIOR: farmhouse retaining original room plan with original features such as timber work (internal window shutters, skirting boards and timber panelled doors) still intact. Bothy (altered 1992) now renovated to form holiday accommodation.

Statement of Interest

This farmhouse was (in the past) associated with the Traquair House Estate. It is sited between the Quair Water and the Fingland Burn to the SW. Directly in front of the farmhouse (where a grassed area and part of the road now runs) was a large mill pond used to supply the Traquair Saw Mill (listed separately). The mill was formerly the corn mill for this farmhouse. It is believed the Eckford brothers stayed here during the 19th century when they painted the mill and surrounding area. A painting entitled "Interior of Traquair Mill" may be set inside the small adjoining cottage or bothy, not in fact the mill itself ? as some believe (There are few windows in the mill at the height portrayed). The farmhouse is now no longer used as such, instead providing private residence with the bothy being used as holiday accommodation. Listed as a good example of a classical farmhouse with later stages of development clearly seen.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17848580

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

• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair