Description

Circa 1864, possibly incorporating earlier fabric. Single storey and attic (2-storey to rear) farmhouse on sloping site, forming side of U-plan farm steading with arched, pedimented doorpiece, 9 steps to door and finialed, gabled dormers to front. Roughly dressed sandstone to W (front) elevation of house; sandstone rubble elsewhere; sandstone ashlar dressings. Simple eaves course; raised quoin strips; raised door and window margins.

HOUSE: central 20th century timber panelled door to W (principle) elevation recessed in roll-moulded, depressed-arch architrave with dropped keystone, moulded spandrels and pediment; 9 stone steps to door; corniced bipartite windows at ground floor to outer bays; finialed, gabled dormers with bracketed cills to attic. Blank gable to N. Single storey section of steading adjoining S gable with 2 windows to W elevation. 3-bay elevation to E (courtyard) with mid-late 20th century piend-roofed porch to left and square windows at 1st floor.

INTERIOR: modernised from derelict condition circa 1985.

Non-traditional uPVC windows replacing lying-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Corniced gablehead and ridge stacks with short, decorative yellow clay cans. Saw-tooth skews. Graded grey slate.

STEADING RANGES: low, single storey range to S with piended roof at SW corner and ridge stack to centre; irregularly fenestrated with (mainly later) doors and windows to both elevations; graded grey slate roof. Slightly higher range to E with 2 depressed-arch vehicle entrances to courtyard elevation (1 blocked up to form garage); other door and window openings (some original glazing); 20th century additions abutting E elevation; piended roof to SE corner, gable to N; concrete tiles to roof.

Statement of Interest

This courtyard-plan farm steading is relatively unusual in having the house to one side of steading ranges, rather than in the middle: it is the best example of this arrangement in Dunlop Parish. The farm probably dates from the late 18th century and the earliest map it is shown on is John Ainslie's map of Renfrewshire of 1796. It part of the Caldwell Estate, and is mentioned in an account book of 1798. The first edition OS map shows the farm steading as long single range of buildings on the site of the present South range. It is likely that the present building incorporates some of this earlier fabric. The farm was rebuilt by the Caldwell Estate in the mid-1860s. Although there are no direct references to this work in the surviving estate papers, they do contain a plan for an almost identical steading at Crumock (Beith Parish). The plan, which is dated 1864, shows exactly the same elevational treatment for the house, and gives details of the room plan and internal layout of the steading ranges. The proposed alterations were carried out at Crumock, but the house has been much altered since, and is not listed. Despite its uPVC windows, and other 20th alterations, Pollick is therefore probably the best surviving steading of this date on the former Caldwell Estate. Pollick was renovated from a near-derelict state by the present owners (2004) in the late 1980s.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77781366

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

• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)