Home Farm, Craigston Castle

Home Farm at Craigston Castle is a substantial range of farm buildings constructed between 1766 and 1828, situated around a rectangular courtyard. A central group of four free-standing buildings defines the courtyard, with further ranges and structures extending from this core. A slaughterhouse is located on a rise to the northeast.

The original construction uses red Turriff sandstone ashlar dressings, reddish field rubble, and cherry-pointed coursed, squared conglomerate, with gabled slate roofs. Many buildings feature apex ball finials. Some ranges have been re-harled in later periods.

The courtyard ranges consist of long elevations to the east and west. The western range is dated 1766, and the eastern range, of 1777. The eastern range retains slit mural vents, indicating a former use as a grain store or barn. Both ranges have grotesque carved stone finials at their southern apices, now adapted internally for modern agricultural purposes. A shorter northern side of the court is occupied by a byre and cart shed, dated 1777. The southern side is closed by a pair of single-story cottages with attics; one is three bays wide, the other two, exhibiting an alternate window/door/window frontage. These cottages were constructed in 1777, though a date of 1823 or 1828 may refer to later alterations. They have small timber sash and case windows, squat end chimney stacks, and slate roofs, and incorporate re-used 16th-century carved stone finials from Carnousie, Banff and Buchan. These cottages were designed as model dwellings representative of the best standards of their period.

A stable and carriage house, dated 1792, are linked at right angles to form an L-plan with the 1766 western block. It is now used as a joiner's workshop and has a much-altered southern elevation, with a hay loft entrance in the western gable.

A ruinous cart and implement shed is situated to the east (dated 1822), alongside a ruinous single-story, dormerless attic cottage at the northwest (also dated 1822).

The slaughterhouse, dated 1777, is a single-story, rectangular building facing south. It features a central door with an inscribed lintel flanked by what appear to be later insertions of mock stone cannons. The building exhibits a cherry-pointed conglomerate frontage, rubble gables, and rear ashlar margins. Projecting tuskers are visible on the rear wall, suggesting original plans for an extension. A slate roof includes a skylight and apex ball finials, along with a stone ridge and shaped run-off skewputts.

The survival of this mid-18th to early 19th century Mains Farm complex, retaining its original layout, is of considerable interest.