Description

Later 18th century probably incorporating earlier fabric. 2-storey, 3-bay house to S E of single storey service court. House with later adjoining 2-storey service addition to N (circa 1825) with single storey gabled Tudor-detailed music room/library to E (1916, re-working earlier fabric on site). Stugged pink sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings.

HOUSE:

E ELEVATION: 3 broadly spaced bays to original house with door in roll-moulded surround at centre, approached by 3 stone steps. Over-door wall-mounted sundial/armorial, 2' square, circa 1740, imported from Millheugh (see Notes), featuring square dial with gnomon giving hours above cup dial with gnomon giving minutes, flanked by Biblical male and female figures under gadrooned canopies and with bunch of grape pendants to plinths. Window above and in flanking bays. Advanced single storey music room to outer right adjoined to later 2-storey addition; round arched recess to gable end of music room with stone mullioned bipartite window; tripartite mullioned window on return to left with secondary door by re-entrant angle, again with roll-moulded surround. Owl statue marking quoin of later 2-storey block, seated on quoin stone breaking eaves.

W ELEVATION: tall stair window to centre with small under stair window and windows in flanking bays

N ELEVATION: 2-storey gable of service addition facing court with bipartite windows to right and single windows randomly placed to left.

S ELEVATION: lean-to modern conservatory adjoined at ground. Single window to right at 1st floor above.

Small-pane timber sash and case windows; leaded casements to music room. Purple slates. Gablehead stone stacks with coping; ashlar coped skews with block skewputts.

INTERIOR: staircase of stone. Oak panelling to hallway. Bolection moulded chimneypiece (imported from elsewhere) and stone flags to coomb-ceilinged music room. Depressed arched doorway with glazed upper panels, 1916. Stone chimneypiece to dining room (1916) with nursery rhyme frieze depicting 'Hey diddle, diddle', Thomson brother initials and Ayr coat-of-arms.

SERVICE COURT AND ARCHWAY: service court to N and W linked to house by single storey range running E-W (largely 1916) with door to garden at rear of house to S elevation, with shaped dormerhead above and small

flanking windows, further windows of standard size flanking. Archway to E entrance (post 1909), abutting music room and comprised of

segmental carriage arch with wallhead stepped above high relief ram's head plaque. W range 1916 re-working of existing with Tudor details, 6 bays to court with segmental arched carport openings paired to right of centre and to outer left. and 3 bipartite windows to left of centre and outer right. N range dropping to lower single storey height to E and abutted by short E range (post 1909) closing court and containing workshop.

Small-pane glazing in sash and case and casement windows. Purple slates. Rooflights.

TERRACE WALLS, GATES AND GATEPIERS: stugged rubble terrace wall to garden by entrance front with stone steps. Pair of rubble drumpiers flanking vehicular gate with conical caps, flanking sturdy wrought-iron 2-leaf and pedestrian gates.

Statement of Interest

Brae of Auchendrane was probably built by Sir Adam Ferguson, grandson of Lord Kilkerran. It passed to Elias Cathcart in 1828 after a period of tenancy (in a sale apparently forced by the dispute over a neighbouring Ferguson estate, Drumellan). It passed through the Bairds to Colin Thomson in 1916. The source of the over- door panel was traced latterly to a courtyard entrance in Millheugh, Lanarkshire where it was recorded in the Larkhall Victualling Society Centenary Souvenir Book 1821-1921, though here it is shown as brightly painted; its original origin is uncertain, both Cadzow Castle and Plotcock Castle have been suggested. The Tudor detailed additions (music room, W range and some interior refurbishment) have been attributed to Sir Robert Lorimer but there is no evidence and no strong association is apparent. The 1896 and 1909 OS maps show a roofless, circular horsemill adjoining the N range. The work described as post 1909 is probably also 1916.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17843598

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

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)