Description

Leadbetter and Fairley, 1907. 2-storey rambling L-plan house, adjoining single storey and attic cottage, 1908. Rubble Law stone with squared dressings. Chamfered arrises to openings. 1st floor cill course encircling building. Rounded outer angles, corbelled to square below eaves. Simple Dutch gabled dormers.

Long E elevation with irregular fenestration, 2 N bays advanced and gabled, roll-moulded doorpiece on return N elevation reached by steps with coped balustrade, N re-entrant angle formed with return of N-facing paired gable block; studded door. Variety of window sizes and glazing patterns, some dormerheads.

LONG W ELEVATION: central door with 3-light stone mullioned fanlight. Narrow doorway in angled bay in re-entrant angle at S with tall window and smaller flanking light above. Single storey linking block to cottage, adjoining outer gable at ground. Variety of window sizes and glazing, including wide 6-light canted bay at N, some dormer heads.

S ELEVATION: irregular openings. Gabled bays at centre and E. Decorative gutter heads. 2 stone corbel sundials above ground floor windows to N and W.

INTERIOR: some outstanding features retained. Panelling, beamed ceilings. Variety of chimneypieces including Angel style caryatids to one with decorative tiles. Elephant hide frieze and carved masques in Hall. Fine plasterwork.

COTTAGE: single storey with decorative timber porch to S gable. Brick wall to W elevation with irregular openings. Former stables to E with altered openings. Tripartite window to N gable.

Variety of glazing patterns, small-pane predominating. Ashlar coped skews. Moulded copings to stacks. Caithness slate roof.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEWAY: rubble. Pointed arch gateway to N with carved masque above. Timber door with decorative wrought-iron fittings and peep-hole.

Hexagonal, ashlar well-head with chamfered coping set on stone paved hexagon. Decorative arched overthrow. Sited to W of house.

Statement of Interest

Listed Category B mainly for quality of interior details. Commissioned by Guy Speir, traveller and collector. House sited in original grounds of Cisterian Priory which Speir helped to excavate. Currently an Old People's Home.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17791195

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

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy