Description

Circa 1830, with additions circa 1850. Ornamental Tudor-Gothic stuccoed façade to symmetrical 2-storey 3-bay villa; single storey and attic later wings to either side, that to L with slightly advanced tripartite bay to ground and dormer breaking eaves, that to R (No 2a, now in separate ownership) with 2 windows to ground (that to L former door) and box dormer; single storey former carriage house to outer L adjoining boundary wall. Base course; moulded string course between floors; crenellated parapet. Wings harled with raised and painted margins and angle margins; moulded eaves course to W wing.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: outer engaged hexagonal corner buttresses; central bay flanked by pointed Gothic buttresses with foliate finials rising above crenellated parapet; square-headed hoodmoulded entrance with flanking side lights panelled oak outer door; 5-part letterbox fanlight above. Hoodmoulds to windows; label-stops to 1st floor. Centre frieze of parapet with moulded quatrefoils in diaper pattern.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: advanced bay with large stair window, 2 small windows at ground; timber boarded door in re-entrant angle to L, window above; flanking single bays, that to L with timber panelled 2-leaf border-glazed door; wing to R with small G

othic window to L, blocked central opening and semi-dormer above. Door to carriage shed plus 2 blocked openings to R. Monopitch range to outer L.

Timber sash and case glazing, main portion of façade lying-pane (6-pane lower sashes, 4-pane upper); mixture of 12-pane glazing, 4-pane Victorian sash and case and later casements to wings and rear; original timber margin-paned glazing to stair window at rear. Grey slate roofs; overlapping skews to W wing and wallhead dormer to S, with moulded skewputs; 4 corniced hexagonal ashlar chimneystacks to each original gable plus corniced ashlar gable stack to W wing and coped gable stack to E wing (all replacement cans).

BOUNDARY WALLS: rendered, coped low stone walls to front with 5 capped gatepiers. High random rubble wall with flat coping forming part wall of carriage shed flanking Kirk Road, forming boundary wall to side and rear of garden; 2 openings in wall to Kirk Road: that to R with carriage arch and 2-leaf timber boarded door; that to L square-headed key-blocked opening with tabbed, droved ashlar surround (constructed 1996).

INTERIOR: good interior scheme in place with original and early Victorian features. Hall: broad, with timber pilasters supporting depressed arch; dog-leg stair with elaborate cast-iron balustrade (acanthus leaves and rosettes) and mahogany handrail; Regency sunburst ceiling rose and simple decorative cornice. Dining room: plain moulded cornice; skirting and dado; painted brick chimneypiece in form of pointed Gothic arch. Victorian drawing room: bolection-moulded Tudor-style chimneypiece with granite hearth; elaborate foliate cornice; timber panelled doors with flanking pilasters and entablature (1 converted to cupboard, formerly providing access to dining room). Kitchen/sitting room: Edwardian classical-style timber chimneypiece. Upper hall: pilastered timber panelled doors with continuous entablature. 1st floor former drawing room: pilastered doorcases with timber panelled doors; egg and dart cornice with moulded cornucopia. Dressing/linen room to front between former drawing room and bedroom: timber panelled fitted cupboards.

Statement of Interest

Knockbuckle sits on the hill that gives it its name, adjacent to the High Church (separately listed) and prominently located in the Townhead area on the south approach to Beith's centre. One of the town's most distinctive villas, Knockbuckle is a typical classically symmetrical villa but with a striking Tudor-Gothic stucco treatment to the façade. Here, the fashion for the Tudor-Gothic style in Ayrshire is quite apparent. The house shares elements (the octagonal outer buttresses) with larger Tudor-Gothic mansions such as Holms House, by Galston (demolished), possibly by David Hamilton or William Burn, and Tour House, Kilmaurs (separately listed), built after 1841. Less grand than these are the former Priory Lodge and Elderslie house (now Elderslie Hotel, separately listed) Largs, by David and James Hamilton, 1829-30. These share similar hexagonal ashlar chimneystacks. In the same vein as Knockbuckle but less exuberant is Burnhouse Manor, to the southeast of Beith, comparable for its addition of Tudor-Gothic details to a standard form. Hamilton could have designed Knockbuckle but equally it could be a remodelling of an existing plain Georgian villa under Hamilton's influence.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17829305

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

• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)