Courtyard Outbuildings at Birkhill House, Leaderdale and Melrose, Scottish Borders

Description

Birkhill is a mid-18th and 19th century, irregular-plan, former laird's house which may contain earlier fabric and which has some early 20th century additions and alterations. It has outbuildings dating from the early 19th century and with later alterations.

The house comprises a mid and possibly earlier 18th century, five-bay, two-storey, rectangular-plan section (facing south) with an earlier/mid 19th century, lower two storey, four-bay wing adjoining the rear. The house is rendered with stone margins and the main entrance has a corniced stone doorpiece. There are a variety of 20th century additions to the rear of house. The east gable has earlier 20th century window openings. The windows are predominantly timber sash and case frames with a 12-pane glazing pattern. The roofs are pitched and a mixture of graded and non-graded slate with stone skews and shaped skewputts to the earlier (south) part of the house. There are dressed sandstone gable and ridge chimney stacks.

The interior was seen in 2018. The entrance hallway has a flagstone floor and a shallow curved stone stair. The cast iron balustrade has alternate foliate detailing and a mahogany handrail. The principal ground floor room has decorative panelling around the main windows and a wide arched opening to the earlier 20th century addition at the rear. Most windows have decorative architraves and panelled timber shutters and there are a mixture of six- and four- panel timber doors. The first floor landing is large and has a window overlooking the lawn. There is a later timber stair to the second floor with turned timber bannisters. In the east part of the attic is a metal safe door in the place of a window opening. The 19th century wing of the house has a large first floor room with a combed ceiling. There are simple stone fire surrounds with timber mantel shelves and round arched cast iron inserts to this part of the house.

To the east of the house are three ranges of single storey, rectangular-plan outbuildings arranged around a triangular courtyard. They are built in random rubble and have been raised in height at some time. Some openings have been enlarged and have brick surrounds. Some of the outbuildings have been used as stables and have timber and iron stall dividers and cast iron feeding troughs. The roofs are slated.

Birkhill Cottage is a small two-storey building at the east end of the northern range of outbuildings. The cottage is built in random rubble and has a slate roof. The east elevation has an irregular window pattern with four-pane timber windows. Breaking the eaves is a gabled dormer window with hung-slate on the sides. There are later lean-to additions at the rear. Internally it has later four-panel timber doors and a vertically boarded timber staircase.

There is a long rubble and rounded cope boundary wall extending approximately 300 metres along the eastern boundary of the site and integral with the outbuildings and Birkhill Cottage. To the southeast of the house the wall rises and curves to an arched entrance gateway, dated 1826, with flanking arched pedestrian entrances.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the detached timber stable buildings to the north.

Statement of Interest

Birkhill is a mid-18th and 19th century former laird's house which may contain earlier fabric, as the history of the estate can be dated back to the 12th -century. The south part of the house typifies this building type by its one-room deep, rectangular plan form and a principal elevation with evenly spaced windows, small windows set well below the eaves. 19th century additions and alterations have doubled the house's size and further developed the outbuildings and grounds to form a rural estate, the landscape of which is still recognisable today.

Age and Rarity

Birkhill is first marked on Armstrongs' Map of 1771 where it is noted as a small settlement called "Birkhillside". The 1776 "Survey and Maps of the Roads of North Britain or Scotland" also marks the property as Birkhillside and notes the owner as "Shillinglaw Esq". The Old Statistical Account of 1795 records that Major Shillinglaw of Birkhillside was the only hereditary proprietor in the Legerwood Parish. It is therefore likely that the current house was on the site by the mid-18th century or earlier.

The New Statistical Account also references the antiquity of the estates of "Birchensyde" and "Legerdeswode" noting they were granted to Walter Stewart by Malcolm IV in 1160. It notes the ownership history was fully recorded until 1689 when Birkenside was passed into the ownership of the Shillinglaw family.

The principal (south) elevation of Birkhill evidences two different build dates. The earliest part of the house is the two-storey three-bay section to the left with a central doorway and smaller 12-pane windows. It is likely that this part dates to the 18th century. The two-bay section to the right has the same size ground floor windows (one now a door), however the first floor windows are taller and not in line with the other first floor windows. The attic room has a metal safe door leading to a roof space in place of what was an exterior window opening. It is likely that the two-bay section to the right was built as a single storey wing at the same time as the original house and then raised to two storeys, possibly at the same time that the lower north wing was added.

The different heights of the two parts of the house, the size of the window openings and surviving interior detailing indicate that the northern wing principal part of the house was a later addition. Historical ownership information also suggests the southern five-bay principal section of Birkhill may have pre-1700 origins which would mean that it was a significant Laird's house in Legerwood parish.

The 'Borders and Berwick: An Illustrated Architectural Guide' describes Birkhill House as 18th century extended eastwards around 1850. On 12 January 1849 the Kelso Chronicle advertises the entire Birkhillside estate for sale. This sale may have been the catalyst for change at Birkhill. The lower northern wing of the house, the courtyard outbuildings and attached Birkhill Cottage may have been added after this sale. However, the arched opening in the stone boundary wall is inscribed with the date 1826, which may indicate the build date of the later addtions.

The 1st edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1857, published 1862) is the first map to show the footprint of the house. The house is shown almost in its current form, including the north wing and the outbuildings, Birkhill Cottage and boundary wall. The map also indicates that there was a small entrance porch on the south front of the house. The corniced doorpiece around the main entrance is in a different stone to the window and door margins and is likely to be a later modification replacing the earlier porch. In the 20th century a variety of additions were added to the rear of the house.

The stonework of the north range of the outbuildings shows that it was raised by around a foot in height early on in its history. The openings in the three ranges of outbuildings have been enlarged and faced with brick and former openings infilled. The changes to the outbuildings appear to date to the earlier 20th century and do not significantly detract from their interest or authenticity.

Laird's houses were built from the mid-16th century until around 1880 by proprietors or major tenants in a town or the country. They are not a rare building type in Scotland, with around 50 examples recorded in the Scottish Borders in Strachan's 'The Laird's Houses of Scotland' (2008).

Whilst Birkhill may contain earlier fabric the south part of the house largely dates from the mid-18th century and therefore is not an early or rare example of a Laird's House in the Scottish Borders. However, this part typifies this building type by its one-room deep, rectangular plan form and a principal elevation with evenly spaced windows, small windows set well below the eaves. 19th century additions have doubled the house's size and further developed the outbuildings and grounds to form a rural estate, the landscape of which is still recognisable today.

To the north of the courtyard outbuildings are a pair of timber stable buildings. These are later additions to the property and are not considered to be of special interest in listing terms. They are excluded from the listing.

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

Birkhill has a complicated interior plan form because of its different build dates.

The proportions of the entrance hall and the shallow broad staircase are large. The principal part of the house has an unusual open first floor landing with a window overlooking its grounds to the south. There are numerous simple but well-crafted details that appear to be of an 18th century date such as the panelled window surrounds, shutters and panelled doors throughout. Other features within the house include simple 19th century fire surrounds and the delicate foliate cast iron bannisters to the main staircase.

The walls to the principal (south) part of the house are thick and the small window openings set within them are also indicative of an early date. An 18th century attic window in the former east gable has been modified with a metal safe door leading to the later (mid-19th century) roof space. The once exterior stone window surround is still evident in the roof space. The survival of these early interior details in a building with later alterations add to the interest of the building in listing terms.

Plan form

Birkhill was built in several phases, as described in the Age and Rarity Section. Consequently the house has an unusual V-plan layout.

Extending east from the house is a range of outbuilding arranged around a triangular courtyard. The survival of these outbuildings is important in evidencing the development of the property in the 19th century. The footprint of the property has not changed significantly from that shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map (surveyed 1857, published 1862).

The southern range of outbuildings are attached to the north wall of the former enclosed walled garden and there is a single door leading onto them from the garden side. This range was likely to have been built as the gardeners' outbuildings and the small rubble stonework suggest they are of an early date.

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

Birkhill has an architecturally distinctive principal elevation, which evidences its 18th century character as well as the 19th century development of the property. The small size of the windows in the right three bays and the thickness of the walls suggest this part of the building is of an early date. The large distance between the top of the first floor windows and the eaves is unusual. Three–bay, 18th century houses more typically have first floor windows abutting the eaves. The height of the eaves at Birkhill is therefore unusual and may indicate a higher status building.

Setting

Birkhill sits at the centre of substantial grounds that extends to approximately nine acres. It comprises a garden immediately in front of the house and wider former parkland area. The house has been built on the highest point of the grounds and the south elevation has a view of the former parkland, which falls away steeply to both the south and west.

The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map shows Birkhill had a sloping south facing walled garden attached to the south range of outbuildings, immediately east of the house. Remnants of this walled garden survive in the planting, plan form and paths within it, but the wall is no longer extant. The sunken lawn immediately in front of the house is still evident.

This map also showed that there was an entrance in the southwest corner of the property, with an approach drive curving around the south and east boundaries. This drive is evidence today by a broad band of trees bordering the south of the parkland.

The immediate setting of the house is largely unchanged from at least the mid-19th century and possibly earlier and this adds to the buildings interest. The house holds a prominent position within the topography of the immediate area and the extent of survival of the immediate rural estate landscape indicate that Birkhill was a house of status.

Regional variations

There are no known regional variations.

Close Historical Associations

There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2018).

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2018. Previously listed as 'Birkhill'.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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