Description

Single storey, symmetrical, villa-like cottage built between around 1840 and 1854; centre-doored three-bay front with projecting and barge-boarded outer bays, further flanking single bays set back. Centre porch and detailing all dressed ashlar; remainder tooled snecked sandstone. Piended slate roofs with overhanging eaves and corniced ashlar stacks. Timber-framed sash and case windows.

Advanced gabled entrance porch to principal (southeast/garden) elevation; flanking gabled bays with hoodmoulded bipartite windows and scroll detail to bargeboards with drop pendants and finials. Central gabled two-bay section slightly advanced at rear with two further flanking single bays set back.

Outbuilding: single storey ancillary building to west of main entrance gate. Rubble walls with ashlar detailing, slate lean-to roof. Large door near house with four further doors (possibly once providing stabling and stores).

Forecourt: section of courtyard from entrance gates to house laid in brick.

Boundary Walls, Gatepiers and Gates: corniced square-plan gatepiers with chamfered quoins to carriage entrance to northwest of property on Park Road; adjacent corniced pedestrian entrance. Ornate wrought iron gates replace earlier gates (possibly originally timber). Tall rubble wall bounds entire property. Wall raised to north and northeast and surmounted by curved coping. Pedimented ashlar doorway to west (Waverley Road) (also carriage entrance to west). Wall continues along Waverley Road with changes in stonework to southern section (possibly indicating one time changes in use of grounds). Boundary wall to south of garden has an opening at eastern end. Walls enclose long sweeping lawn which slopes down to the south. Large Cedar of Lebanon beside west pedestrian gate.

Statement of Interest

The proportions and detailing make Waverley Cottage an attractive building and one which is uncommon to this area. Although on a larger footprint than its neighbouring houses (which are typically two-storey and square-plan), because of its single storey and decorative barge-boarded gables, Waverley Cottage has an almost lodge-like appearance. Waverley Cottage remains largely unaltered particularly since it also retains its boundary walls, outbuilding and garden and is one of the few houses within the conservation area to retain the full extent of its grounds. Gellatly's 1834-1840 (exact date uncertain) New Map of the Country 12 miles round Edinburgh shows that this area of Dalkeith had not yet been developed. However, with the mid-19th century commercial boom in Dalkeith (which was boosted by the opening of the railway to Edinburgh, which runs to the south of Waverley Cottage) areas surrounding the crowded town centre, such as this, began to be developed for housing.

Listed building record revised in 2022.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77780269

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)