Description

Robert Little, 1896-9. Single storey with attic and basement, 3-bay Scottish Renaissance hall on ground falling to N. Dressed, squared and coursed whinstone, squared and snecked rubble to sides and rear, contrasting droved and polished sandstone dressings. Deep, chamfered base course, string course and moulded eaves cornice. Round-headed doorway, keystone, chamfered reveals, stop-chamfered arrises, stone transoms and mullions.

S (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: symmetrical, basket-arched windows. Slightly advanced broad crowstepped gable at centre with moulded doorcase with flanking columns on field-panelled pedestals, keystoned and corniced with carved floreate and monogrammed spandrels below ball finialled dies (left finial missing) flanking segmental-headed carved panel ?MITCHELL HALL ERECTED 1896?, 2-leaf panelled timber door with 3-part segmental fanlight; flanking narrow transomed windows below string course and bipartite window in gablehead; transomed and mullioned bipartite windows with crowstepped dormerheads breaking eaves in bays to right and left.

N ELEVATION: 5-bay, 3 centre bays advanced with timber-louvred vent in gambrel roof. Boarded timber door to right of centre at ground, window to left partly obscured by stone forestair to 2-leaf boarded door at 1st floor with windows in flanking bays; recessed bay to left with boarded door at ground, recessed bay to right blank.

W ELEVATION: crowstepped gable to right with window to left and corbelled chimney breast in gablehead, stepped gable to left and recessed centre bays with variety of elements.

E ELEVATION: crowstepped gable to left as above, gable to right and recessed centre with variety of elements.

Small-pane glazing in top opening timber and sash and case windows, mostly broken. Graded grey slates. Coped ashlar stacks with full complement of cans, ashlar coped skews with decorative beak skewputts and cast-iron downpipes with decorative hoppers and air vents.

CARETAKER?S HOUSE: single storey, 3-bay house (detailed as above). Crowstepped dormerheaded windows flanking door to S (that to right advanced); gablehead stacks to E and W.

BOUNDARY WALLS: coped rubble boundary walls, low semicircular-coped to S.

Statement of Interest

Built for the village by Alexander Mitchell of Redwells, the hall remained in community use until the late 1960?s, in 1969 the building was taken over by a company producing electronic components. The caretaker?s house is currently used by a playgroup. Hutchison quotes local memories "from 1934-62 Williamson from Newburgh showed pictures there. It is remembered for hardness of seats"... the caretaker who lived at the adjoining cottage was, for years, Sandy Farmer "He was another one that killed pigs. And he used to cure his hams" (Mrs E Seath).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17804900

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair