Clarghyll Hall

Clarghyll Hall is a large house that has evolved over several periods. It began as a 16th-century bastle and was heightened and extended to the north in the late 17th century for Nicholas Whitfield. Further extensions to the north were made for Thomas Whitfield in the mid to late 18th century. Around 1860, the top floor of the tower, the east wing, and the north study/chapel, which incorporates remains of another bastle, were added by Rev. Octavius James, who lived there from 1847 to 1889. He also designed his church at Kirkhaugh, Northumberland.

The building is constructed of coursed squared rubble with quoins, while the 19th-century work features ashlar. The north wing has a stone-flagged roof with stone mid and end chimneys, while the 19th-century roofs are made of Welsh slate with corbie-stepped gables and an end chimney on the tower. The north side of the east wing has three gables and a castellated octagonal chimney on the south side. The layout is L-shaped, with a three-storey tower to the left of center, a two-storey north wing, and a projecting east wing that has one tall storey, all with undercrofts.

The tower features steps leading up to a gabled 18th-century porch on the right, with a 19th-century stone-traceried bow window at the first-floor level to the right. There is an original stone mullioned window between these, with a similar window above. The right-hand window has an inscription: "N.W. JULY THE X 1679" on the lintel and a motto on the sill. The staircase wing at the rear has a similar window dated "MARCH 1678." The top floor has 19th-century mullioned windows, while the five-bay north wing features wood mullioned and transomed windows. The east wing is designed in a Gothic style.

Inside, the tower undercroft retains the original semicircular-headed door to the bastle, which has a draw-bar slot and pivot-holes, now opening off a 17th-century cross-passage. Heavy oak beams support the stone-flagged floor above. There is a large bracketed fireplace on the entrance floor dating to around 1688, as indicated by a date on a re-positioned spice cupboard. The end room in the north wing on the same floor has an 18th-century cornice, panelled doors and shutters, with some original carving remaining in the remodelled fireplace. The study-chapel at the north end was partly destroyed by fire in 1889, in which Rev. Octavius James died.