Woodhead Cottage, Carnousie, Banff and District, Aberdeenshire

Description

Possibly by James Duncan, Woodhead Cottage is a late 19th century remodelling of an early/mid 19th century cottage. It is a single-storey, three-bay estate cottage with Arts and Crafts style detailing. It is built on rising ground with views over the River Deveron. It is rendered with Turriff sandstone, droved ashlar, narrow margins. The openings have stop-chamfered reveals and the windows are bipartite with timber mullions. The gables have timber bargeboards with a trefoil motif and ball finials. There are later lean-tos adjoining the south gable and west (rear) elevation with corrugated roofs.

The principal (east) elevation has a central entrance in an advanced gabled bay. The door is vertically boarded timber (some boards missing) and has decorative cast iron hinges, and a rectangular fanlight. Flanking the door are bipartite windows with gables above breaking the roof eaves.

The windows have timber casement frames. Fragments of the diamond-pane glazing pattern survive. The roof has red fish-scale tiles and decorative ridge tiles. There are a pair of stone chimney stacks with a cope on the ridge. That to the north has an octagonal clay can. The end gables have a jerkin-headed roof supported by wooden brackets on corbels.

The interior was seen in 2018. It comprises three rooms each with vertical timber boarding to the walls. The rooms at each end of the building have fireplace with plain timber mantlepieces. The doors are four-panelled and timber.

Statement of Interest

Dating principally to the late 19th century, Woodhead Cottage is a notable example of a cottar's cottage. The building largely retains its late 19th century fabric, including its plan form, interior detailing and decorative Arts and Crafts exterior design. The setting of the cottage is very picturesque with a commanding view of the Deveron valley from its principal elevation.

It is an important ancillary component of the Carnousie Estate, which was improved by the Harveys from the mid-19th century. Together with the nearby Red Lodge and the Waterside Cottages, it is part of group of estate buildings, built or remodelled in the late 19th century, as part of the estate improvements carried out by John Harvey.

It largely retains its late 19th century design and its survival contributes to our understanding of the arrangement and working of this extensive country estate during the 19th century.

Age and Rarity

Woodhead Cottage was built as a cottar's cottage for the nearby Penelopefield farm, which is just over 400m to the north. A cottar was a farm labourer or tenant occupying a cottage in return for labour. Penelopefield was one of the farms associated with the Carnousie Estate.

The origins of Carnousie Estate can be traced back to the 14th century, when Alexander Burnard (Burnett) was granted by Royal Charter the lands of Carnousie in Banffshire. The Old House of Carnousie (listed at category B, LB9601), was built by the Ogilvies as a Z-plan castellated tower house and is dated 1577. It became the farmhouse for Carnousie Mains. The estate passed through several hands until it was sold to Captain Alexander Grant, a successful sea merchant. In the late 1830s Grant commissioned the Aberdeen architect, Archibald Simpson, to design a new mansion house (at NJ 67578 50140). This Italianate house had a south elevation dominated by a semi-circular balcony supported on Doric columns. (Miller, 2006)

Grant fell into financial trouble and committed suicide in 1841 (Bolton Chronicle, 30 January 1841). When the estate was advertised for sale in 1842 it was described as 2967 Acres (of which 2000 are arable) with a new mansion house and a number of estate farms (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 16 November 1842). Grant's new house remained unfinished and was demolished around 1930. Some of the fabric of the building is thought to have been used at Elphinstone Hall. The footprint of new Carnousie House survives as buried remains.

Around 1844 the estate was bought by William James Harvey (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 14 August 1844 and 18 March 1857). In a variety of mid 19th century newspaper adverts for the tenancy of estate farms, Mr Harvey is described as living in Carnousie Cottage (not listed, at NJ 67404 49717). Old Carnousie House and Carnousie Cottage are both marked on Thomson's Map of 1826.

An article in Banffshire Journal and General Advertiser of 14 September 1852 describes the many improvements Harvey made to the estate. These improvements included changing the small crofts into estate farms, felling the trees in some of the plantations to use the soil for arable lands and repairing or rebuilding farm buildings. In this article 'Penelope Farm' is mentioned as let to Mr Morison. Improvements to the farm included the clearing, trenching and reclaiming of 22 acres of woodland and the tenant was building a new dwelling house.

Woodhead Cottage is not specifically referred to in this article and the date it was built is not known. Woodhead Cottage may have been built as part of the 1840s improvements at Penelope Farm or it may be earlier. A property called Woodhead, Forglen is recorded in the 1841 census and at that time it was occupied by John Smith and his family. Woodhead Cottage is shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1867) with an L-plan footprint, including an outshot on the east elevation.

In 1867 Harvey died and the estate passed to his eldest son, John. (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 9 October 1867). Carnousie Cottage then became known as Carnousie House. John Harvey made improvements to the house and wider estate. Around 1890 he extended the house to the northwest to designs by the local architect, James Duncan. The approach to the house was altered and Duncan designed a granite gatelodge for the west entrance (known as Red Lodge, listed at category C, LB9605) (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 8 October 1896).

Woodhead Cottage has very similar architectural details to this gatelodge, such as the bracketted eaves, the timber bargeboards and the fish-scale pattern tiled roof. Woodhead Cottage was remodelled around the end of the 19th century as the footprint of the building on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map (surveyed 1900) is different from the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. The outshot on the east elevation has been removed and an outshot on the west (rear) elevation is shown. The similarities between the cottage and the gatelodge suggest that it was remodelled as part of John Harvey's estate improvements around 1890. Waterside Cottages (both listed at category C, LB9607 and LB9608) are also mid 19th century Carnousie estate buildings that were remodelled in the late 19th century and have decorative timber bargeboards.

It is highly likely that some of the fabric of Woodhead Cottage was part of the earlier cottage. However, the extent of this is not known. The design and form of the building largely dates to its substantial late 19th century remodelling.

Buildings put up between 1840 and 1945 which are of special architectural or historic interest and of definite character either individually or as part of a group may be listed. Ancillary estate buildings dating from the 19th century are not a rare building type. In the 19th century landowners were keen to improve their estates in response to improvements in farming and the greater diversification of land use either for industry or leisure. Estate buildings were often given an architectural treatment that was repeated across the estate.

Woodhead Cottage is not a rare survival of a farm worker's cottage. However it is a notable example of estate architecture for its date, designed in a decorative Arts and Crafts style which is unusual for this building type. While the building has been unoccupied and is in a state of disrepair, this has not detracted from its architectural interest. The cottage is part of a similarly detailed group of contemporary estate buildings, which are distinctive ancillary components of Carnousie estate. They show the later 19th century improvements and architectural embellishments at Carnousie carried out by John Harvey.

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

The cottage retains a number of late 19th century interior fixtures and fittings, such as the timber boarding to the interior walls and fireplaces. These features are not exceptional for their date, but their survival adds to the character and interest of the building. The interior of estate buildings are frequently modernised with the removal of these features.

Plan form

At Woodhead Cottage a small lean-to store has been added to the south gable, but overall the building largely retains its late 19th century L-plan footprint, as shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map. The simple plan form is not innovative for its building type, but its survival is unusual, as ancillary estate cottages are frequently altered with later additions to increase living accommodation. Internally the building appears to retain its simple plan form.

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

Woodhead Cottage retains a large amount of its late 19th century fabric and its distinctive exterior design details still survive which have been designed to give an overall artistic effect which is characteristic of the Arts and Crafts style. These details include a hipped roof with decorative fish scale roof tiles and ridge tiles, small gables with decorative bargeboards over each opening in the principal elevation and decorative door hinges.

The property is constructed in locally sourced materials and the interest of this is discussed in the Regional Variations section below.

The cottage has not been occupied for many years and the fabric of the building has deteriorated. The condition of a property is not a factor in its evaluation unless it detracts significantly from the architectural or historic interest so that it can no longer be defined as special. This is not the case at Woodhead Cottage, which still retain a significant amount its 19th century fabric.

The building is stylistically similar to the nearby gatelodge which was designed by James Duncan (1828-1907). Duncan was the son of a Turriff mason and he commenced practice in Turriff by at least 1862 when he designed Cuminestown School. He quickly acquired a reputation for the effective planning and construction of farm steadings and had more than forty local estates, large and small, as clients.

At present (2018) there is no documentary evidence to indicate that Duncan had a hand in the remodelling of Woodhead Cottage. The stylistic similarities between the cottage and the nearby gatelodge indicate that he may have been involved or his design details were copied.

Setting

The setting of Woodhead Cottage is very picturesque and adds to its special interest. Built on a steep hillside, from its principal elevation it has a commanding view of the Deveron valley. The River Deveron forms the south boundary of the estate. With the exception of a 20th century house built just to the north of the cottage the 19th century agricultural setting of the Woodhead Cottage is largely unchanged.

The extent of survival of Carnousie's 19th century ancillary buildings is good and indicates the improvement and working of this extensive country estate during this period. The estate retains its principal houses, Mains of Carnousie (listed at category B) and Carnousie Cottage (later known as Carnousie House, not listed). Woodhead Cottage was an ancillary building to the estate farm, Penelopefield, the farmhouse and steading of which still survive to the north (not listed).

The cottage is intervisible with other ancillary buildings of the Carnousie estate, including the Red Lodge and the Waterside Cottages (all listed at category C). These other ancillary buildings have been altered and have later additions but share decorative design details with Woodhead Cottage. Together they demonstrate the improvements to the estate carried out by John Harvey in the late 19th century

Regional variations

Large country estates usually had a supply of locally sourced stone, which they used in the construction of their ancillary buildings. Carnousie estate was recorded as being abundant with freestone, just beneath the soil and this was used for in the estate buildings as well boundary walls (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 16 November 1842). The estate also had woodland plantations, including red larch which was noted of suitable quality for shipbuilding and roofing (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 01 December 1869).

Woodhead Cottage is rendered and has Turriff stone dressing. Its tooled red sandstone construction can be seen where the render has spalled. It is likely that the stone and timber is locally sourced which adds to its interest.

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 2018. Previously listed as 'Carnousie, Woodhead'.

External Links

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