Description

Late 18th century. 2-storey, 4-bay rectangular farmhouse adjoining walled garden and range of traditional farm buildings. Skew gabled, rubble built farmhouse with polished ashlar long and short quoins, rubble garden walls, steading and cottage adjoining later harled farm building.

FARMHOUSE: SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATIION: entrance door to ground floor 2nd bay left, regular fenestration to both storeys and rear, single bay to SW elevation. NE elevation not seen, 2000; central ashlar chimney stack with neck copes and 4 cans.

12-pane timber sash and case windows. Slate hipped roof with metal ridging. Replacement rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: not seen, 2000.

WALLED GARDEN: rectangular rubble garden walls with shaped top copes conjoining SW of farmhouse to SE of steading; entrance to driveway.

SW ELEVATION OF STEADING: range of three buildings: later single storey 4-bay lean-to with two bays to left, door and single bay to right, blind left return and rear; adjoining 2-storey traditional rectangular steading, painted boarded door to 1st storey left, roof light to right; adjoining single storey rectangular-plan cottage (contained within garden boundary) with short rubble gablehead chimney and single can. Rear elevation not seen, 2000.

Rooflight on SW of main building. Piended pantiled roof to main building, piended slate roof to lower SE building, lean-to on NW cottage.

Statement of Interest

The farm is built near the site of Sheriffhall House, a large mansion set within a grass park, part of which still survives in the form of a dovecot, listed separately. Originally the lands belonged to the Abbey of Dunfermline and were occupied by a family named Gifford before the Reformation. The land, near Dalkeith, passed to the family of Buccleuch in 1642, and the farm is sited on part of the estate that formed the pleasure grounds for Dalkeith Palace. This part of the estate was home to the Sheriffhall Colliery, which was wrought for many years. The mining underneath eventually led to the instability of Sheriffhall House, which was demolished in 1830. The farm was owned by the Buccleuch estate and let to a tenant farmer on a 14-year lease. The then Duke had a passion for husbandry, and bred short horns and Leicester sheep in the park. The farm is a good example of a traditional steading, most farms in the area are improvement steadings. The farm is found between the city bypass and Old Dalkeith Road.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17828403

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

• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)