Description

17th century core. 2 storey and attic, 6 bay, irregular plan tower house with later additions and alterations. Harled with droved and polished dressings. Base course (broken in places); strip quoins; partial crenellated parapet; crowstepped gables.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 1901 advanced porch to centre; Tudor arched doorway, with decorative hoodmould and label stops; 2 leaf boarded timber door; stepped up parapet with tooled panel reading "HARVIESTON"; boarded timber doorway to right of left return; single window and gabled bipartite window to left of left return; single window to right return; chamfered angles. Canted angle window to penultimate bay to right; tripartite window advanced to outer right. Canted window to 1st floor of bay to outer right; bowed window, of circa 1800, to ground and 1st floors of outer left; 3 windows to ground, tripartite window to 1st floor; boarded timber door with large single pane fanlight to penultimate by to left; single window to 1st floor above; regular fenestration to later 19th century centre bays of 1st floor; 4 gabled dormer windows to attic; 2 central dormers have carved panels set in crowstepped gableheads reading "TC" (for George Trotter Cranstoun) and ?1869? (when this addition was built by James Brown).

SW ELEVATION: asymmetrical, 4 bay; single storey canted bay to outer left, with central panel bearing a bird and dated ?1901?; advanced porch to ground of penultimate bay to left with chamfered angles; blocking course with decorative corbel stone to right return; blind arrowslit with arrowslit window above; flanked by small window to left; timber doorway with panelled timber door and letterbox fanlight below arrowslit window to right return; bipartite window to right of porch; single window off centre to left of 1st floor; window set to left of gablehead above; 2 angle turrets flanking gable with arrowslit windows and conical roofs. Regular fenestration to ground and 1st floors of penultimate bay to right. Bay to right advanced; window to centre of ground; roof swept down with 2 crowstepped gabled dormers to 1st floor. Lean to addition to outer right with boarded timber door and decorative fanlight flanked by single window.

SE ELEVATION: asymmetrical; gabled tower to centre; 20th century conservatory to attic floor to left; gabled bay to right; tripartite window advanced to ground of outer right; tripartite window set in gable behind; gabled bay to outer left ground floor obscured by lean to addition, window centred to 1st floor; various 20th century sheds obscuring much of ground floor.

NE ELEVATION: asymmetrical, 5 bay; single storey canted window to ground floor of penultimate bay to left; blank shield set in crenellated parapet; boarded timber door reached by timber steps to right return; bipartite window to centre of 1st floor; single storey blank bay to outer left; single window to 1st floor of centre bay; regular fenestration to ground and 1st floor of remaining bays; boarded timber door to basement of penultimate bay to right.

Predominantly 2 pane timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roofs with lead ridges. Combination of coped gablehead, wallhead and ridge stacks with octagonal and circular cans. Cast iron rainwater goods, some decorative hoppers.

INTERIOR: not seen 1997.

Statement of Interest

The Borthwick family are said to have lived on the estate of Harvieston before they built Borthwick Castle, circa 1430. According to the Statistical Account the ruin of the castle was by the side of Gore Water which runs to the NW of the estate. Harvieston was the home of George Trotter Cranstoun of Dewar around 1750, when it was a building "of moderate size, with very thick walls, and having the lower part arched" (Small). It was altered in the later 19th century by Mr. Brown of Currie, and then again at the beginning of this century. From 1985 it was known as St. Aidan's and was used by the Roman Catholic Church as a training school for boys. It is presently divided up into flats (1997).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77771226

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

• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)