Description

A circa 1840, 2-storey, 3-bay, L-plan farmhouse sited on level farmland to the east of Haddington. The entrance (north) elevation is symmetrical and has a gabled entrance porch with decorative stone skewputts and margins, bi-fold timber entrance doors and a fanlight. There are ashlar dressings, margins and window surrounds with 20th century pebble dashed rendering. The rear section was raised to two storeys in the earlier 20th century and is slightly lower than the main square plan section of the house.

There is a rubble wall enclosing the garden to the south and west (broken section to the south side, 2015).

There is 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. The first floor windows of the rear section are later and bipartite. There is a piended grey slate roof with corniced ashlar and rendered chimney stacks.

The interior was seen in 2015 and the internal 19th century plan form remains largely intact with some early 20th century remodelling to the rear wing. There is a central entrance hall with a turned stone main stair with cast iron bannisters and a timber handrail. There are timber and cast iron fire surrounds to most of the principal rooms contemporary with the building as well as some plaster cornicing, timber panelled shutters, doors and moulded architraves. The interior of the rear ancillary wing was altered when it was raised to two storeys, and has a secondary timber service stair to a single room to the upper floor with timber detailing from that date.

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Statement of Interest

Built around 1840, East Bearford farmhouse is associated with an area which was significant in the introduction of early and improving farming practice in Scotland. It demonstrates quality of design and construction, remaining largely in its original form and its rural farm setting has been largely retained.

East Bearford Farmhouse is situated 3 miles to the east of Haddington. The building was built in the earlier 19th century and appears on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map (surveyed 1853, published 1854) as an L-plan building. It was altered circa 1900 to raise the single storey ancillary accommodation to the rear section to 2-storeys including a secondary timber service stair. The style of the farmhouse and mapping evidence indicates the building dates it to around 1840. The neighbouring steading appears to have been built around the same date as the farmhouse.

The Lothians were recognised as the foremost agricultural area in Scotland from as early as the 16th century. In the 18th century, they were at the forefront of Improvement. Farming and agriculture remained an important part of East Lothian's economy during the 18th and 19th centuries up to the present day. Glendinning et al in their book 'Buildings of the Land' states that the period from 1730 to 1790 demonstrated the development in enclosure farming in East Lothian and the years that followed saw an increase in the average size of farms. The New Statistical Account notes various improvements in farming in the area since the first account of 1791-99, particularly in the increases in the size of farms due to better drainage, crop rotation and newer farm implements. In 1805 the average farm size was 80 hectares rising to 151 hectares by the 1850s, a growth that was ahead of the rest of Scotland and fuelled in the local area by the invention of the threshing machine by Andrew Meikle in East Linton in 1787. This invention marked the beginning of an industrial phase in Scottish farming which peaked in large scale development by 1830. It is likely that East Bearford Farm was developed around this time of peak industrialisation as it is noted in the New Statistical Account that the area between Haddington and Dunbar in particular was at the forefront of improvement farming in East Lothian and therefore Scotland as a whole.

Statutory listing address and listed building record revised in 2016. Previously listed as 'East Bearford Farmhouse'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77770414

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.

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