Road Bridge, Balmuirfield House Lodge

Road Bridge, Balmuirfield House Lodge

Built sometime between 1858 and 1900, Balmuirfield Lodge is a rectangular-plan, two-storey, three-bay lodge. The ground floor is on a level with the arch of the adjoining bridge. A piend-roofed extension is attached to the east elevation, containing a garage opening to the ground floor and a first floor window opening in the east gable. A harled advanced bay, supported on piers, projects from the first floor of the north (rear) elevation, forming a T-plan footprint. This feature was added sometime between 1921 and the 1950s. The remains of a rear forestair are visible. The west gable has a window opening to its right bay. The lodge is set back from Harestane Road, located over the brow of a small hill at the edge of Dichty Water, at the southern entrance to the former Balmuirfield Mill and bleachfield site.

The building is constructed in whitewashed rubble sandstone with ashlar quoins and long and short margins around the window openings. Many of the window openings are unglazed, and those to the first floor of the front (south) elevation are boarded up. Some uPVC casement windows are present in the upper rear of the building. The roof is pitched to the west and hipped to the east, covered in grey slates. The west elevation has plain bargeboards and corniced ridge chimneystacks. As of 2025, the interior is largely stripped back to bare stone.

The adjoining single arch road bridge was constructed sometime between 1858 and 1900. It has segmental arches with small irregular voussoirs and is built of rubble sandstone with rounded rubble coping. The northeast parapet abuts the southwest corner of the lodge, and the northwest parapet continues around to the west as a wall.

Historical Development

Balmuirfield was one of several early mill sites along the Dichty Water, first mentioned as a plash mill in 1834 and again in 1861–2. Plash mills were used in the bleaching process for textile production, primarily linen and jute. The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858–9 shows the plash mill, then named West Balmuir Mill, with an L-shaped building to the north of the current position of the lodge and road bridge, indicating these structures were built after 1858–9. The map also depicts the mill buildings and their associated lades. Balmuir Mill, a flour mill (later a corn mill), is shown immediately to the east. The Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1857–61 describes West Balmuir Mill as owned by Mr Webster Esquire and worked by Mr Murdoch.

West Balmuir Mill expanded to become a bleachfield around 1864 and continued to be worked by A J Murdoch and Company. The Webster family of Balmuir sold the mill site to the Sharp family (now of Balmuir House) around 1872. The bleachfield was worked by David Moodie and Company from around 1880.

The 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1900 shows the site much expanded, including the addition of the lodge and road bridge and other industrial structures to the immediate north and northwest of the lodge. The lodge originally had a much longer footprint than at present. A detached manager's house and mill dam are also shown on this map.

By the Ordnance Survey map of 1921, the bleachfield is marked as disused and the lodge has been reduced in size to the basic rectangular plan footprint it has today, being the westernmost section abutting the bridge. The hipped addition to the east and the rear outshot on piers were added sometime between 1921 and 1952. The footprint today survives largely as it was shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1952–65.

In the mid-20th century, the Balmuirfield site operated as a fruit and vegetable nursery. The individual properties on the Balmuirfield estate are now privately owned as of 2025. The lodge appears to have been uninhabited for many years.