Steading, Manse, Kirkton Of Auchterhouse

Steading, Manse, Kirkton Of Auchterhouse

This is a Grade B listed property comprising a former manse with associated historic buildings and boundary walls, dating from 1789 with significant later alterations and extensions.

The main manse is a 2-storey and attic building of T-plan form, originally three bays. It is constructed of coursed rubble, redressed in 1991, with snecked detailing to the south elevation and ashlar dressings throughout. The roof is covered in grey slate with exposed purlin ends at deep-eaved gables and plain, narrow bargeboards; ridge stacks are positioned at each gable.

Windows are 12- and multi-pane sash and case throughout most of the building, with plate-glass and 4-pane examples on the south elevation. The south elevation features a door with triangular fanlight set within a deep-eaved angled porch at the right re-entrant angle. Adjacent to the main elevation on the right is a bipartite projecting window, with a single window at first-floor level and a smaller bipartite window at left above the porch. A quadrant structure with a doorway extends to the gable of the steading at the far right. The left side has an advanced wing with tripartite and bipartite windows at ground and first-floor levels respectively.

The east gable has a lean-to shed at ground floor with a small window at attic level. The north elevation displays an elongated transomed stair window at centre, with an unsympathetic modern pivot-window at ground floor left, an original window at first floor, and two small windows at first-floor right. A lower 2-storey service wing projects to the right, and a lean-to with cat-slide roof spans the left return, featuring two doors (blocked as windows) and a 9-pane window to the attic gable.

The west elevation reveals the gable of the original house at centre with paired windows at ground floor, a single window at first floor and attic, and the letters 'ar' inscribed on stone at ground floor. A lower service wing occupies the left side with a projecting porch containing a door, window and half-piended roof; a modern garage door is set at the far left. The 1868 extension occupies the far right with a dormer-headed window breaking through the eaves; a wall advanced at right abuts the Old Manse, bearing a lintel inscribed 'MDCCLXXXIX'.

The south wing and entrance porch were added in 1868, designed by John Carver. The interior retains some original 18th-century fielded panelling to doors. Two attic bedrooms in the service wing retain box beds and ledged doors. The 1868 extension features decorative cornice, original shutters and joinery.

The Old Manse is a single-storey rectangular-plan building, likely the earlier manse building, bearing a marriage stone dated 1726. It is of rubble construction with stone slates and ridge tiles. The east elevation has various doors and windows; the north gable has a window with security bars; the west elevation features an arrow-slit ventilator and barred window. The south gable has garage doors and a gable stack. An interior wall bears a stone inscribed 'PI AD 1726' above the lintel. The marriage stone probably relates to Patrick Johnstone, minister 1702–40, and his wife.

The Steading dates from 1784 with a slightly later angled addition at the north. It is a single-storey rectangular-plan building of rubble construction with ashlar dressings and a purple and grey slate roof, half-piended at the north with stack, and gabled with coped skew and skewblock at the south. The west elevation has a window and various doors; the east has a door and various small, mostly blocked windows. The interior shows signs of habitation at the south with some timber hecks and stalls. The steading is probably that referred to as 'offices' in the Old Statistical Account.

Rubble boundary walls enclose the property to the north, south and east. The listing acknowledges that although the manse was substantially altered and extended in 1868, it retains considerable original interior work, particularly the servants' rooms with box beds. The Old Manse is a major factor in the Grade B classification of the entire property.