Glenormiston House, Innerleithen, Scottish Borders

Description

Built for William Hunter, circa 1809. 2-storey and attic, 3-bay rectangular-plan classical farmhouse with formerly 1 1/2-storey (now altered) multi-bayed rectangular-plan wings to flanks. Harled with dressed ashlar margins and stacks with harled sides; dressed ashlar window surrounds with slightly raised sills, lintels and margins. Skew gabled house with plain putts.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical farmhouse to centre: central timber panelled entrance door within plain stone door surround, 2-pane narrow rectangular fanlight surmounting; single window to 1st floor aligned with entrance door; to outer bays of each floor, tripartite window with stone surrounds and mullions; to attic, pair of splayed timber and slate dormers aligned with outer bays. Adjoining to left, west wing: partially glazed timber entrance door to left, much later tripartite window to right; flat-roofed attic dormer to left of door (pair of gables). Adjoining to right, east wing: advanced single bay with bipartite window, piended bipartite timber and slated dormer aligned with ground floor window; to right, single storey with 3 later bays and very high wallhead (central French doors with narrow 2-pane fanlight surmounting and large plate glass windows with top hoppers to flanks); rubble garden wall adjoining to right with arched entrance and later wrought-iron gate.

E ELEVATION: asymmetrical gable of extended wing advancing from and concealing ground floor of main house; garden wall adjoining to left. Upper floor and gablehead of main house blind.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: to left, E wing: single storey and attic, 3-bay wing with single storey, flat-roofed squared outhouse adjoining NE angle; 3rd bay heightened to form 2-storey single bay extension to main farmhouse to right. Main farmhouse: triple windows to ground floor left with single window to 1st floor; slightly advanced central bay with door to ground floor and window above; window to each floor of right hand bay. Rear of W wing not seen, 2002.

W ELEVATION: gable of wing advancing from and concealing ground floor of main house. Window to right at 1st floor of main house with blind gablehead above.

12 and 15-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows to principal elevation with 4 and 5-pane side lights flanking main windows; to attic dormers 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows with 2-pane sash and case windows. Various replacement glazing to rest of elevations including plate glass windows with opening top hoppers; 6 lying panes to flat-roofed attic dormer; 12-pane sash and case windows to rear with horned upper sashes; some 2-pane cast-iron Carron lights to rear of wings; later roof lights. Pitched grey slate roof with lead ridging, flashing and valleys; pair of piended slated splayed attic dormers to main elevation of main house and further similar dormer to E wing, flat-roofed slated dormer to W wing. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods. Gablehead stacks to main house with coursed ashlar ends and harled (to gablehead and inner return), ashlar neck copes and 3 - 4 octagonal cans; small harled gablehead stack with single can to W wing and small harled square stack to rear of E wing extension.

INTERIOR: farmhouse interior altered and extended to form modern residential accommodation.

Statement of Interest

Not to be confused with the original Glenormiston, a mansion that was the principal building on the estate until it was demolished in 1956. This smaller farmhouse, further up the hill at the rear of the site, has been adapted to form the principal dwelling, and taken over the name. The whole estate was formerly known as 'Wormiston' and 'Ormiston'; it belonged to the seventh Earl of Traquair, whose trustees sold it for £8400 to John Scott, writer to the Signet. Scott improved the land dramatically, extending cultivation and planting larch belts. His heirs sold it in 1805 to William Hunter (farmer, Liberton Grange near Edinburgh) for £9910 who renamed the estate "Glenormiston". He continued to fashion fields, raise plantations and build this farmsteading and the now demolished mansion. After Hunter's death, the estate was sold for £24,000 to William Steuart who again continued improving the estate, spending £10,000 on works. More land was drained, pavilion wings added to the mansion house and gardens laid out. William Chambers bought the estate in 1849 for £25,500 and created a new entrance to the property with its own lodge. He was a publisher and Lord Provost of Edinburgh. It is sited around 4 1/2 miles from Peebles. He improved the land further and altered the farm steading, then known as 'Glenormiston Grange'. He subscribed to new methods in husbandry and had the steading harled and whitewashed. It was regarded as one of the best adapted modern husbandry farms in the county, and to complement it he built a number of labourers cottages. By 1864, the planting on the estate was maturing and it was regarded as "valuable", a sharp comparison to when the area had started as an open hillside labelled the "ten pound land of Ormiston." The tripartite windows in the principal elevation are not original and replaced bay windows and an entrance porch. Listed as a good example of an early 19th century farmhouse and one of the largest remaining estate buildings since the demolition of the mansion.

External Links

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British Listed Buildings

History in Structure

Glenormiston House

A Category C Listed Building in Innerleithen, Scottish Borders

Coordinates

Description

Statement of Interest

External Links

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