Description

1861. 2-storey, 3-bay, M-gabled, former Free Church manse in small group with former Free Church. Stone pedimented 1st floor windowheads breaking eaves, fine original glazing and little-altered interior. Ashlar with projecting cills to S and harl with stone margins to other elevations.

Further Description:

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical. 6-panelled timber door with 2-part fanlight to centre bay at ground, windows in flanking bays and regular fenestration to 1st floor.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: 3-bay elevation incorporating later lean-to porch obscuring door immediately to left of centre at ground, windows in flanking bays and stone-pedimented windows to outer bays at 1st floor.

E ELEVATION: blank M-gabled elevation.

INTERIOR: good decorative scheme in place incorporating moulded cornices, timber fire surrounds (some with cast-iron grates), top-lit (modern rooflights) timber staircase with decorative cast-iron balusters (replaced at 1st floor landing with plain balusters) and architraved panelled doors.

12-pane glazing pattern in timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Coped ashlar gablehead stacks with some cans; ashlar-coped skews with moulded skewputts; cast-iron rainwater goods.

ANCILLARY BUILDING: single storey, slate-roofed and harled former coach house, stable and Sunday school forming courtyard with E boundary of walled garden and N elevation of manse. Interior retaining timber trevises and saddle tree.

WALLED GARDEN: high semicircular-coped rubble walls to rectangular-plan walled garden to W of manse.

BOUNDARY WALLS, GATEPIERS AND GATES: coped rubble boundary walls with square-section ashlar gatepiers and hoopwork iron gates to S.

Statement of Interest

Group with the Auld Kirk, former Free Church. The former manse with its associated ancillary building and walled garden are situated immediately to the west of the former Free Church of Glenbuchat. The group constitutes a fine, virtually unaltered example of a small charge which became the focal centre of religious life in the Glen, owing to its more convenient siting than the Old Parish Church. Locating a site for the new Free Church and manse was not an easy task, and the Free Church Annals record that 'After great difficulty and much discouragement a site was obtained at Balnacraig in 1861, and a church and manse were erected'. The church was decommissioned in 1983, and the manse was purchased in 1988 after remaining empty for 5 years. During this period the building became uninhabitable. The church itself was purchased after a further 5 years.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17771070

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: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)