Description

Circa 1854 with later 19th century additions. Single storey and attic, 3-bay, rectangular-plan, picturesque pavilion-style pigsty with dovecote tower; set into hillside site. Random and coursed whinstone rubble with yellow sandstone ashlar quoins and dressings; polished yellow sandstone ashlar quoins and moulded corbel to tower. Timber bracketed roof with gable to wings.

NE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: wide central bay with entrance (door/gate now missing) with ashlar surround, blind flanks rising into gabled end with bracketed timber roof, advanced dovecote tower on moulded corbel with gable ended timber dovecote with 5 flight holes to front and timbered sides, timber bracketed roof with setback ball finials (front now missing). Blind wing walls flank entrance (with large 3-pane roof lights to attic) and lead to advanced single storey, gable ended pavilion-style bays with bipartite window set high into gablehead (arched hole below left of left wing window possibly for hens or ventilation).

SW AND NW ELEVATIONS: blind side walls inset into gradient of hillside; rear elevation low with partially collapsed slate roof.

Much of the glazing plan now lost although one 6 lying pane window in timber side hung casement survives; pair of large 3-pane cast-iron roof lights to principal elevation. Pitched slate roof with timber brackets (formerly painted green) and overhanging eaves in lieu of rainwater goods (roof partially missing to rear), large anchor shaped ventilators to rear roofline of wings. Ball finals on squared bases to dovecote (front ball now missing).

INTERIOR: open central entrance (probably formerly with timber gate or door) leading to through passage; 6 (stepped in 3 pairs) high brick white-washed pen walls flank passage with trough feeders built into end walls, brick piers at corners support attic storey. Rubble walls to outer of sty, all whitewashed; sloped flag floors, timber boarded ceiling below dovecote.

Statement of Interest

Part of an A-Group with all other Glen estate buildings. Sited near the centre of the estate and built into a sloped site. The Glen estate can be traced as far back as 1296 when Sarra of the Glen swore allegiance to King Edward I of England. The estate remained in the family's hand until around 1512, when the grounds became fragmented and parts were sold to neighbouring landowners and families. By the 1700's, there were 2 main parts of the estate, Easter and Wester Glen. Easter Glen was sold to Alexander Allan (an Edinburgh banker) in 1796 for #10,500. At this point, the house was a fairly small plain farmhouse. His son, William Allan (Lord Provost of Edinburgh) was responsible for enlarging and extending the house, the architect being his friend William Playfair (see The Temple, listed separately); even after improvement it was still not regarded as being fit for a landowner's principal residence. The 3.500-acre estate was bought in 1852/3 by Sir Charles Tennant, owner of the chemical works of St. Rollox, Glasgow, for #33,140. The house was by then outdated and not suited to modern family life; he commissioned David Bryce to design a baronial style house, to which a tower (also by Bryce) was added in 1874. Tennant continually improved the estate landscape (1860-1890) and was responsible for the building of a school, farm, worker's and estate cottages, walled kitchen garden and kennels making The Glen virtually self-sufficient. In 1897, there were approximately 105 estate workers doing a range of jobs; including maids, cooks and servants within the house and gardeners, foresters, shepherds, carters, cattlemen and gamekeepers on the estate. The estate had its own masons and joiners, as well as its own whinstone quarries. The farm steading is sited at the core of the estate in the part that resembles a village. Upon the hill is the piggery. It is sited overlooking the main steading and just behind the workers cottages. Due to its high position, it is handled in a picturesque manner to be viewed as an eye catcher, not only as a functioning building. The pigs were important animals. They provided pork, ham, bacon and sausage. The trotters and heads could be boiled and made into brawn. The fat would have been reduced and made into lard. This would have supplemented the meat from the sheep and the cows (who also supplied the dairy produce). The vegetables would have been from the kitchen garden and together they would provide a varied and nutritious diet. The actual structure of the piggery is noted long before its present form. Originally, there was a U-plan building with an open end where the dovecote entrance is. The back and outer walls appear not to have moved but been extended forward and in-filled (some time between 1860 and 1880) to form what we see today. The tower dovecote is of a much higher status than the building that it surmounts. The rest of the piggery follows the estate vernacular but the tower and entrance have high quality sandstone ashlar quoins and an impressive moulded corbel. The timber dovecote follows the estate norm with timber-bracketed eaves (and all woodwork painted green). It could be that the tower was an after thought, or added during a later phase of improvements to the estate (it is known Bryce carried out more work in 1874, and this could have been added then). Being inset into the hillside, the interior passage floor is on a slight incline facilitating drainage and for mucking out purposes. The estate functioned like a community until the 1920s. The Tennants lost money during the Wall Street Crash and this had a knock on effect, as estate workers lost their job and tied housing. The numbers on the estate swelled again during World War II, when 48 landgirls came (4 married Glen men and never left). Listed as a good example of a piggery within an intact later 19th century estate (other estate buildings are listed separately).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17849141

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

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