Description

Late 18th century with 19th and early 20th century additions. Two-storey, seven-bay picturesque rustic 'hut' with single storey and attic, bowed and thatched wing to east (added around 1781) and extensive Scots Baronial style additions to south, to form U-plan. Sandstone rubble, squared and snecked rubble, partly harled. Droved margins to windows; polished ashlar canted bay to outer left; some windows roll moulded; string course, continuous as hood mould, between ground and first floors; cill course to corbelled bay to right of centre; hood mould and scrolled pediment over square panel to gablehead of corbelled bay; eaves course; crowstepped gables.

Southeast (Principal) Elevation: irregular seven-bay with crowstepped gabled wing to left (south) and thatched, bowed wing to right (east). Tripartite window at ground in bay to centre; gableted window above. Corbelled double bay to right of centre: window at ground set to right of corbel; window in each bay at first floor; hood moulded and scroll pedimented panel to crowstepped gable above; gablehead chimney stack. Thatched bay to outer right: tripartite window at ground in bowed bay, with windows (left blinded) flanking; window set in thatch above. Two-bay left return: tripartite window at ground in bay to right; boarded door with half timbering and glazing flanking and half-timbered panel above at ground in bay to left; four-light window with herring-bone weatherboarding to apron at first floor above; separate slate roof projecting from thatch. Three (blinded [central one as a window]) round arched recesses at ground spanning bay to left of centre; gablet headed window above. Window at first floor of advanced bay to penultimate left; crowstepped gable above; three (blinded) round arched recesses to right return. Advanced, three-light canted bay with part-glazed door to centre and windows flanking, at ground to further advanced bay to outer left; bays divided by Doric half columns; dentilled cornice with egg and dart moulding beneath; 1996 wrought-iron, strapwork balcony with oak leaf motifs above; part-glazed door at first floor; crowstepped gable above; small oval window to right return.

Northwest (Entrance) Elevation: irregular nine-bay with crowstepped double bay to outer right (west). Window at ground in bay to centre. Bipartite window at ground in bay to left of centre; bipartite window at first floor above. Timber canopy and supports over timber panelled door at ground in bay to right; lintel inscribed 'A 1914 C'; window at first floor above. Window at ground in bay to penultimate right; window at first floor above. Bipartite window at ground in bay to outer right; bipartite window at first floor above; gable spanning both bays with shield panel to gablehead. Part-glazed door at ground in bay to left of centre; non-aligned window at first floor above. Window at ground in bay to left. Window at ground in penultimate bay to left; non-aligned window at first floor above. Single storey lean-to addition, turned west through 90 degrees, in bay to outer right: window to front face and to right return; square-plan, piend roofed kitchen addition, projecting to north (outer left) angle.

Twelve- and eight-pane timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof; thatch to east addition; ashlar coped chimney stacks; ashlar, gabletted skews; ashlar coped gablets to windows; cast-iron rainwater goods.

Interior: deep, ornately carved cornices to hall; carved timber fireplace and timber dado panelling in south drawing room; pilastered cornice with swag decoration surrounding stairwell at ground; carved swagged urns at angles of banisters.

Statement of Interest

The original 18th century cottage, the basic shape of which can still be distinguished, was extended around 1781 by John Clerk of Eldin, brother-in-law to Robert Adam. Swept along by the fashion of the day for the creation of rusticated idylls as country retreats for Edinburgh gentry, he added a large, bowed with a thatched roof drawing room to the east end, forming an L-plan villa of some size and comfort. The rustification of the exterior did not extend inside where large, classically proportioned rooms were created. This cottage orne style provided Sir Walter Scott with his first marital home when he rented it from the Clerks of Penicuik between 1798 and 1804. The Wordsworths took tea at Lasswade Cottage, as it was then known, in 1803. It was converted around 1865 into a Dower house for the Clerks of Penicuik, and the dormers and crowstepped gables were added. It was extended further by James Tait & Co between 1913 and 1919. See separate list entry for the gate cottage.

It is among a relatively small number of buildings with a surviving thatched roof found across Scotland. A Survey of Thatched Buildings in Scotland, published in 2016 by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), found there were only around 200 buildings with a thatched roof, most of which are found in small rural communities.

Listed building record revised in 2021 as part of the Thatched Buildings Listing Review.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17567495

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

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
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  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)