gatepiers and retaining wall, Arbroath East and Lunan, Angus

Description

Built in the early 19th century, Lunan Bank House is a two-storey, three-bay former farmhouse in a classical style. Rectangular in plan, the central block is flanked by projecting single-storey wings on either side. The principal elevation is rendered and the walls are built of coursed red sandstone rubble with squared-rubble rybats and projecting margins. The house is located in an agricultural landscape on the southern banks of the Lunan Water, five miles north of Arbroath. The house was renovated in 2013 and is currently in domestic use (2018). It is surrounded by contemporary structures associated with the former farm, including a walled garden and a single-storey outbuilding to the northeast (likely to be the former coach house).

The principal (west) elevation is largely symmetrical with a pilastered doorpiece to the main entrance door, which also has colonettes with decorative carved capitals. The single-storey wings feature segmental arch window recesses and parapetted eaves over a moulded cornice. The north elevation is three-bays with a central door opening created after 2013. The rear (east) elevation has a gable-fronted single-storey return with an attic, which is thought to date from the early to mid-19th century. It contains two sets of openings for birds on its east elevation. The south elevation has a single enlarged window opening and two modern rooflights.

The windows are predominantly twelve-pane timber sash and case and the roof is slated. There are red ashlar sandstone chimney stacks at the gable ends of the central block and flat stone skews with stepped skewputts.

The interior of the house was seen in 2018 and retains a number of features of the 19th century decorative scheme. There are fireplaces with classical motifs in the southern principal rooms on the ground and first floor. The central entrance hall features a curved stone staircase with a cast iron and timber stair rail. There is flag-stone flooring on the ground floor as well as simple cornicing, panelled window surrounds and working shutters, and wooden six-panel doors throughout the house.

To the immediate southeast of the farmhouse there is a large rectangular-plan walled garden dating from the early 19th century. It has tall rubble and coped red sandstone walls which are curved at the corners. The entrance to the walled garden is at the centre of the northwest wall. The entrance gates were removed around the early 21st century.

There is a small, single-storey rectangular-plan outbuilding to the northeast of the farmhouse dating to the early 19th century, which is likely to be a former coach house. It is built of coursed red ashlar sandstone and has raised margins and pointed gable ends. The principal east elevation features a segmental-arched entrance with double-leaf timber doors.

An early 19th century retaining wall of coursed rubble bounds the garden to the north of the house. This wall adjoins a pair of square-plan, red sandstone gate piers with pyramidal caps at the northwest entrance to the house, and abuts to the rear of the former coach house at the northeast entrance to the steading complex.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the single-storey outbuilding adjoining the northeast of the walled garden, other ancillary structures to the north and west of the walled garden, the steading complex and open barn to the east, and the boundary wall between the house and the steading complex.

Statement of Interest

Lunan Bank House, walled garden and former coach house is an important and substantially unaltered example of an early 19th century Improvement period farmhouse and ancillary buildings. The former farmhouse is designed in a classical style and its design quality is seen in its symmetrical main elevation which features a pedimented doorpiece and side wings with semi-circular arched window recesses. Internally the farmhouse retains many 19th century features including decorative fire surrounds, flagstone flooring and window panelling.

The walled garden and detached former coach house are important surviving ancillary components of Improvement period farms and are largely in their early 19th century form. The presence of these structures reflects the rising status and aspirations of the farm owner during this period and their retention contributes to our understanding of the historical working of the farm.

Age and Rarity

The date of Lunan Bank House is not known but it was likely built from the early 19th century. The listed building record of 1971 (LB11286) dates Lunan Bank House to the early 19th century. The date 1828 is carved on an arched entrance on the north elevation of the steading to the west of the house. It is likely that the farmhouse, walled garden and outbuilding to the northeast (former coach house) were built around the same time as the steading.

The farmhouse is shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1861, published 1863) with a rectangular footprint and projecting wings at the northwest and southeast ends. There is a small rectangular extension on the rear elevation at the northeast and southeast. The small outbuilding to the northeast (former coach house) is shown with a rectangular footprint. The rectangular plan walled garden can be seen to the southeast of the house. A short distance from rear of the house to the east there is a rectangular-plan courtyard steading (open to the south) with a horse mill attached to the northern end of the eastern elevation. A rectangular courtyard lined by terraces of individual buildings is shown to the north of the farm labelled 'March of Lunan Bank'.

The Ordnance Survey Name Book, (Forfarshire 1857-61: p.23) describes Lunan Bank as a dwelling house and farm steading the property of William Sim Esqr. Arbroath. William Sim is also noted as the owner of the March of Lunan Bank, a small hamlet to the north of Lunan Bank Farm occupied by labourers.

On the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1901, published 1903) a rectangular-plan outbuilding is shown adjoining the walled garden at the northeast. The courtyard steading has been infilled and is shown as a rectangular structure. It has also been extended at the east by the horse mill. By the time of the Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1921, published 1924) the horse mill has been removed. Between the 1968 and the 1971 Ordnance Survey maps a large rectangular barn to the east of the steading complex is built and the terraced hamlet at the March of Lunan Bank is demolished.

From the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, agriculture in Scotland was transformed as small-scale subsistence farming gave way to larger, more commercial farming practices. This radical change in response to increasing demand, was known as the 'Improvement' or 'Agricultural Improvement' period. Innovations included new farming technologies and methods of land drainage, introduction of new crops and crop rotation, improved understanding of animal husbandry and increased length of farm tenancies. Crucially, land was enclosed and small landholdings were merged into larger farms. As a period of significant improvement in farming practices across Scotland, many farmhouses and associated agricultural buildings were constructed in this period.

The New Statistical Account for the parish of Lunan noted in 1845 that a rapid improvement in agriculture had taken place in the county of Angus within the last forty years (p.330). It further states that in recent years, farmhouses in the parish had been very much improved (p.331). It is in the context of the social and economic reform in the earlier 19th century that Lunan Bank farmhouse and the associated outbuildings were built.

All buildings erected before 1840 which are of notable quality and survive predominantly in their original form have a strong case for listing. While farmhouses are not a rare building type, those associated with the introduction of early and improving farming practice (from roughly the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries), which demonstrate quality of design and construction and which remain to a greater or lesser degree in their original form may have interest in listing terms.

Lunan Bank House is an important example of an earlier 19th century Improvement period farmhouse, which is little altered externally and retains a number of internal features from the 19th century decorative scheme. The layout of the farmhouse and its ancillary buildings reflects the changing farming and social system of the period and the classical style of the house aspires towards fashionable architecture of the period (see Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality).

Walled gardens are important yet common ancillaries of high-status country houses or smaller houses within substantial landholdings. Coach houses are also common ancillaries of large estates and may be found detached or often within a stable block. From the Improvement period (around the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries) some new farmhouses were built with walled gardens and coach houses as ancillary structures. This reflected the changing status of the tenant farmer at this time, as new farmhouses were built to emulate the country houses of large estates.

Walled kitchen gardens were once a common ancillary for large or high-status farms and were closely associated with the farmhouse. Coach houses were less commonly found at farmhouses as these were often associated with country villas. There are around 127 listed farmhouses in Angus only three of these are known to have a walled garden. Examples of early 19th century farmhouses with walled gardens in Angus include South Balluderon Farm, Tealing (LB17457) and Upper Hayston Farm, Glamis (LB45711). There are three listed farmhouses in Angus which have coach houses, Pitpointie (LB6497) which has a detached coach house and Kirkton of Auchterhouse (LB6495) and Tealing Home Farm (LB18992) which have coach houses within stable blocks.

Walled gardens and coach houses may be considered of special interest in listing terms if they form part of a wider estate and often if the principal house survives. Lunan Bank walled garden and former coach house are not early surviving examples of their respective building types and are of a standard layout and form. They are of interest in listing terms as good surviving examples of walled gardens and coach houses built as an ancillaries to an early 19th century Improvement period farmhouse. They are important components which are functionally related to Lunan Bank House and contribute to its special architectural and historic interest.

The steading complex to the west of farmhouse dates to the origins of Lunan Bank farm in the earlier 19th century. While steadings are not a rare building type, the steading complex at Lunan Bank, along with the walled garden and former coach house, is an important surviving ancillary structure which contributes to our understanding of the site. The steading complex has however been substantially altered and remodelled since the mid-19th century with the covering of the courtyard, the extension to the east and the removal of the horse mill. These changes have led to the loss of the original plan form of the steading and a substantial amount of historic fabric which has affected its level of architectural integrity.

The open barn to the east of the steading appears to date from the (later) 20th century. The steading complex and open barn are not considered to be of interest in listing terms. They have been excluded from the listing.

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

The interior of Lunan Bank House was seen in 2018. The interior of the former coach house was not seen.

The renovation of the former farmhouse in 2013 involved the removal of mainly later 20th century fittings and saw a number of features of the 19th century decorative scheme retained and some uncovered. These include simple cornicing, panelled window surrounds and working shutters, timber six-panel doors, a coiled cast-iron and wooden stair rail and areas of flag-stone flooring on the ground floor. There are also two decorative fire surrounds, with Greek urns and swags. These interior features reflect the classical style of the house and the status of the farm owner during this period.

Interior features of farmhouses are often lost through reconfiguration of spaces and changing use over time. The extent of surviving early 19th century interior features in Lunan Bank House is therefore significant and adds to the interest of the building in listing terms.

Plan form

The footprints of Lunan Bank House, walled garden and coach house appear largely unchanged from those depicted on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1861, published 1863).

The plan form of Lunan Bank House is largely symmetrical with rooms on either side of a central staircase. This plan form is typical of classical style houses of the earlier 19th century.

The walled garden has a rectangular plan form which is a typical layout of walled gardens of all periods.

The rectangular plan of the coach house is typical for detached coach houses of all periods.

It is common for farmhouses and outbuildings to be altered over the centuries to increase space and accommodate new functions. The lack of alteration to the footprints of the house, walled garden and former coach house is therefore significant and adds interest to the buildings.

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

Lunan Bank House is designed in a classical style typical of Improvement period farmhouses of the mid-18th to mid-19th century. This is particularly evident in its symmetrical front (west) elevation. The pedimented door piece and side wings with segmental arch window recesses are distinctive architectural details. The interior decorative features such as the fire surrounds are of also some quality.

As with designs for other types of buildings, such as hospitals, prisons and schools, new farms became strongly influenced by the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement of the 17th to early 19th century which emphasised the use of reason in scientific and philosophical discourse. An interest in classical design and architecture formed part of the wider movement. In choosing to build a farmhouse in a classical style, an owner displayed both wealth and enlightened interest in the improvement movement (Glendinning and Wade Martins: p. 25). It is likely that Lunan Bank farm house was designed by a local fashionable architect or followed closely from one of the many published pattern books newly available.

The layout of new planned farms of the Improvement period often reflected the changing farming and social system of the period (Glendinning and Wade Martins: p. 28). Where previously joint-tenants lived together in fermtouns, these were replaced by steadings run by a single farmer from a large farmhouse. This farmer would then employ labourers who might be housed in cottages some distance from the farmhouse. At Lunan Bank the farmhouse was designed so that it was separated from the steading to the west and labourers cottages some distance away to the northwest (now demolished). This layout emphasises social divisions and the growing status of the tenant farmer. This status is further emphasised by the presence of the walled garden and coach house surrounding the farmhouse. These ancillary buildings are typically associated with high-status country houses and are not standard features of Improvement period farms.

The design of the walled garden is typical for a walled garden. It is functional in its simple rectangular layout and is plain with no architectural embellishments (such as bee boles, finials of dressed stone).

The design of the coach house is similarly functional, with a rectangular footprint and large semi-circular arched doorway. This design is typical for small detached coach houses of the early 19th century.

Setting

Lunan Bank House is located on the southern banks of the Lunan Water in a rural agricultural landscape of open cultivated fields.

There has been small developments in the wider setting of Lunan Bank in the later 20th century. A small cottage has been built to the east of the steading complex and open barn, where a pump house is shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map. The March of Lunan Bank Cottages to the north were demolished in the later 20th century.

The immediate settling of the farm is largely unchanged from that shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. Lunan Bank House and walled garden remain within their own garden ground surrounded by mature trees. As a result of this the former farmhouse is not visible in the open landscape. The gatepiers, retaining wall and former coach house, which are located by the B965 road that runs past the northern boundary of the house, indicate the presence of the house.

Lunan Bank House is located a short distance away from the steading complex and other ancillary buildings. Although the steading has been altered the visibility between this group of structures allows us to understand their former function and their historic relationship is of special architectural and historic interest.

Regional variations

The farmhouse, walled garden, former coach house and gatepiers are built of red sandstone. Red sandstone is a typically used material for buildings in Angus.

In Buildings of the Scottish Countryside (p. 183), Naismith notes that Angus farms often showed a marked separation between the principal house and the steading, compared with the close attachment of the house and steading seen in areas of dairy farming. Lunan Bank farmhouse is a good example of this regional tradition as the main house sits detached within its own garden, facing away from the steading complex which is sited behind to the west.

Close Historical Associations

There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2018).

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2019. Previously listed as 'Lunan Bank House'.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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