Description

1862. Single storey and attic gabled farmhouse with decorative, scrolled barge boards. Squared and coursed, stugged, variegated granite; ashlar dressings. Sited close to N of steading. Stone, gabled porch at centre of 3-bay E elevation, stop-chamfered arrises; shouldered doorway with part-glazed door, narrow windows on returns; kingpost and barge boards; windows in flanking bays and 3 small gabled dormers above, outer dormers larger and with swept eaves. N elevation with projecting window at ground, ashlar piended roof, attic window above. S elevation with raised chimneybreast and small window flanking to left. Rear elevation with advanced gable to left with 2 windows at ground and attic window above; lean-to stone porch in re-entrant angle to right with door and small window on return to right.

4-pane glazing in sash and case windows, small-pane to lesser windows. Coped end stacks. Decorative barge boards to all gables, save dormers. Grey slates.

STEADING: to S. Probably 1862. L-plan single storey steading with loft. Coursed variegated granite; polished dressings.

E-W range: gable end to E with depressed cart-arch and 2-leaf boarded doors; hayloft opening above. Courtyard elevation with narrow fixed-pane window and 2 doors by re-entrant angle, slate-hung gabled hayloft dormer above. S elevation symmetrical with advanced gabled bay at centre, blind window, serrated course at skewputt level and blind arrowslit; roll finial; blind windows flanked by blind arrowslits to each side. W gable end with blind window at ground and to gablehead.

N-S range: narrow window and door flanked by blind arrowslits to W (rear). Door to left of courtyard elevation. N gable end abutted by timber outbuilding, masking hayloft opening in gablehead.

Grey slates, stone ridge and ashlar coped skews, scroll-bracketed skewputts. Cast-iron rooflights.

Statement of Interest

Well detailed cottage in Tudor idiom with distinguishing barge boards and an attractive compact, L-plan Tudor detailed steading.

In May 1862 it was estimated by Beaton, who may have been the architect, that the steading would cost £245 and the selected cottage design £339. The original name for Birkhall was Sterin or 'Stairean', meaning stepping stones across the River Muick, the name being revived here.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17771227

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

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)