Description

1719 origin, remodelled in late 18th century; early 19th century service additions; additions and alterations by Peddie and Washington Br

owne, 1907. 2 and 3-storey and basement mansion house. Harled; painted ashlar dressings. Architraved windows, 1907; corniced at 1st floor; lugged with festooned swan-neck pediments and aprons to taller windows at ground floor. Bracketted cills, corniced at ground and 1st floors. Eaves cornice and blocking course. Piended roofs.

REMODELLED 1719 HOUSE:

S (FORMER ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 3-bay. Canted bay at centre; oversailing balustraded steps to French window (former entrance) with consoled broken-pediment at centre; regularly disposed fenestration, except under steps. Regularly disposed fenestration in outer bays, except boarded door at basement in bay to right.

W ELEVATION: bowed bay, with 3 windows to each floor, except modern door at basement at centre. Lower early 19th century service wing to left, with 2-storey modern linking block.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: bowed bay of remodelled 1719 house to left. Early 19th century 2-storey and basement, 2-bay block at centre: Ionic columned portico (probably 1907) advanced in bay to left, with low balustrade and later ball finials; Ionic pilasters flanking lugged segmental-arched doorway, with cartouched mask on architrave above and fanlight; narrow window to each bay at 1st floor. 1907 additions to right: 3-storey and basement octagonal tower with 5 faces exposed: similarly detailed, with corniced cill courses, aprons to windows at 1st and 2nd floors, and moulded panels to corniced parapet; window to N and E at basement; lugged architraves to windows at 1st floor, blind to NW; keystoned round-arched windows to 5 faces at 2nd floor, blind to N, blank face to NW; 2-storey range to right, raised from single storey, with string course between floors; 2 segmental-arched openings to left at ground floor, 3 windows to centre and right; window and bipartite window to left at 1st floor, tripartite window at centre and window to right; window to E to 1st floor; door to W and blind arrow-slits to each face at ground floor.

N ELEVATION: 2-storey octangonal tower to left; piended block to left forming L-plan to right with service wings. 2 windows at 1st and 2nd floors of house to left.

Plate glass glazing, with 2-pane upper sashes, in sash and case windows. Corniced and banded ridge stacks. Grey-green slates; purple slates to service wings. Some octagonal cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods. INTERIOR: broken-pedimented tripartite architrave to internal door. Timber balustrade to quarter-turn stair; timber scrolled pediment and architrave to transomed tripartite stair window, with leaded glazing and stained glass roundels to upper panels; 3-bay timber gallery to staircase.

Former site of the Hermitage to S of house, marked by sandstone round-arched stone inscribed "Hermitage 1844" (?) and "Houlet's Nest 17 Jany 1849".

Statement of Interest

Kirroughtree was the seat of the Herons. The estate was disentialed in 1883 and sold in 1889. Kirroughtree House is now a hotel.

According to TDGNHAS, "Rober Heron passed here in 1792, and refers to it as "a large house modernized and repaired with additions within these last fifteen or twenty years".

The Hermitage, a summer house, described in TDGNHAS and Kinna, was situated to the S of Kirroughtree House. Kinna described it as a "secluded and romantic building" which "contained many antique curiousities". The heraldic stone, now situated in the Old Parish Church (see separate listing), was removed from the Old Church in the mid 19th century and placed above the mantelpiece in the Hermitage; the stone was returned to its original position when the Hermitage became ruinous.

Robert Burns visited Kirroughtree in June 1794. He wrote an "Inscription for an Altar of Independence", subtitled "At Kerroughtree, the seat of Mr Heron" (1795), and "Ballads on Mr Heron:s Election, 1795" for Patrick Heron; he also wrote "The Flowery Banks of Cree" ("Here is the Glen") (1794) to a tune composed by Elizabeth Heron.

B Group with former Kirroughtee Stables; Doocot; Ice House (see separate listings).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Kirroughtree House Hotel at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17811098

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)