Glenfoyle Cottage, 7A Market Square, Oldmeldrum

Glenfoyle Cottage was built in the mid-18th century with a small 19th century extension and a further extension dating to the 20th century to the south. It is a single-storey, three-bay cottage, with a central door and two flanking windows on its front elevation and with a modern L-plan, flat roofed section attached to the south. It is built of boulder rubble with chamfered margins, slated roof and includes stone, gable-end chimney stacks on the side elevations.

The L-plan flat roofed range to the south is slightly recessed and has a section adjacent to the cottage which is built of rubble and may include some older fabric and a later perpendicular section to the south built in brick.

There are two-pane timber windows on the front and rear elevations, two modern roof lights on the front pitch of the roof and a timber panelled and glazed front door. The pitched roof has replacement grey slates and stone ridge tiles and coping.

The interior of the cottage has been largely modernised with some historic stonework now exposed. It includes two front bedrooms and a bathroom at rear on the ground floor and a central timber staircase leading to an attic space. The cottage is internally connected to the L-plan flat roofed range containing the kitchen, dining and lounge areas.

Historical development

From around 1640s Oldmeldrum was a prominent market town as it was conveniently located at the crossroad of the main roads connecting Aberdeen to Banff and Newburgh to Huntly. The town was established as a Burgh of Barony in 1671 under Adam Urquhart.

The cottage is shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1867, published 1868) along with a rectangular structure to the south and attached to it.

Historic mapping indicates the building was originally a single storey cottage attached to the rear of a larger building, forming an enclosed lane. In the late-19th century, a small extension, slightly stepped back from the front elevation, was added to the south. In the second half of the 20th century, probably the 1970s, there was a further extension to the south to form an L-plan wing. This most recent addition was flat roofed with the modern flat roofing now also covering the 19th century extension.

The building, accessed through a narrow pend opposite the Town Hall, forms part of the back houses of the 18th century core of Oldmeldrum old town which consists of a network of irregular lanes flanked by houses and cottages converging into the main Market Square.