Knockderry Castle, Cove And Kilcreggan

Knockderry Castle, Cove And Kilcreggan

A Grade A listed building comprising a 3-storey house over basement constructed between 1851 and 1897. The original mid-19th-century Scots Baronial villa was designed by Alexander Thomson (1851–4), altered by John Honeyman in 1869, and substantially expanded with Baronial additions by William Leiper (1896–7).

The main structure is of rectangular plan, built in whinstone and sandstone rubble with polished sandstone margins and dressings. The deep basement, corbelled eaves cornice, stepped string courses, hoodmoulds, eaves band, and Jacobethan detailing characterise the external treatment. Architectural features include roll-moulded and chamfered reveals, crowstepped gables, and candle-snuffer roofs with lead caps and finials on turrets, bartizans, and towers.

The west elevation presents a 3-bay asymmetrical original villa composition. A 2-storey gabled section over deep basement to the outer left features a roll-moulded round-headed window at ground level to the right. A canted oriel window with deeply-moulded corbelling occupies the first floor, with a corbelled string course below and a window directly above in the gable surmounted by a triangular pediment. To the outer right stands a taller 2-bay tower block with bartizans; that to the left is corbelled from principal floor level, whilst that to the right sits at parapet level. Windows are symmetrically disposed with two small windows at ground, principal floor windows featuring moulded arrises and Jacobethan detail above the lintel (with stained glass upper panes), and a balustraded balcony on boldly moulded corbels. Upper floor windows contain ashlar panels inset in architrave. A stugged, squared ashlar parapet with bracketed eaves cornice and rope-moulding crowns the elevation. The left bartizan displays small windows and stepped string course; the right bartizan is blank.

The east elevation, added in 1896, comprises a 2-bay parapetted tower block on a deep, battered base to the outer right, with a lower narrow block to the left. A blind arrowslit appears in the battered base to the right of the tower, and a blank plaque occupies the centre of the upper stage. The entrance bay to the left of the tower is slightly advanced and elaborate, featuring a 2-tiered, pedimented doorpiece with roll-moulded arrises. The door itself is round-headed with roll-moulding and hollow chamfer, set as a heavy 2-leaf panelled oak door with cast-iron hinges. Two round-headed, multi-paned leaded lights sit directly above, with the inscription "as built on rock so be our lives" in the pediment. Flanking round-headed, multi-paned windows have a decorative panel above; a monogram "JTS" marks the left panel, and a datestone reading "1896" appears to the right. The doorpiece pediment abuts into the corbelling of a 2-storey canted oriel directly above, with roll-moulded transoms and mullions, leaded glass at principal floor level, and a smaller upper floor window. An ashlar battlemented parapet surmounts the composition; a crowstepped gable rises from within, flanked by two symmetrically disposed dormers with broken segmental-headed pediments and triangulated finials. To the lower left stands a narrow gable with a 2-stage squat corner tower at the outer left; an ashlar stair leads to a shoulder-arched, roll-moulded door on the southeast side. Stepped string courses, narrow windows, and a plaque complete this section.

The south elevation shows the original villa to the left with the Leiper addition to the right. A narrow gable at the outer left features a battlemented bow at ground level with a pedimented window at the gable centre. A lower crowstepped gabled porch advanced to the right has a balustraded stair leading to a round-headed door surmounted by an armorial escutcheon. A 2-stage tower rises above a canted block in the re-entrant angle to the right, with a datestone reading "1855" above the first floor window. Windows appear at basement, principal, and upper floors to the right, with a segmental-headed dormer completing this section. A lower block abutting to the outer right contains a single basement window and a tripartite principal floor window, crowned by a pedimented dormerhead at the upper stage. The 1896 block to the right features a lower section with 2 segmental-headed arches at ground level, a dormerhead with broken segmental-headed pediment and gablet above, and a wallhead stack rising to the right with a balustraded stair and tower at the outer right.

The north elevation presents a tall tower block on double basement with a canted oriel window corbelled from principal floor upwards, parapet, and crowstepped gable. A lower 2-bay block to the right contains transomed and mullioned windows. A taller block to the right includes a gable with corner turret at the left, a canted oriel with ashlar roof at principal floor level, and a plaque in the gable. Windows are symmetrically disposed in the outer right bay.

Windows throughout are of 2-pane, 4-pane, and 6-pane over plate glass sash and case type, with leaded windows in various locations. The roof is of grey slate with lead flashings, supported by a tall and broad wallhead with ridge stacks and octagonal cans.

The interior features elaborate Leiperian detailing. An entrance tower contains a heavily carved wooden staircase with pierced wooden frieze and a hydraulic-powered lift. The banqueting hall gives access to a music room on the first floor, which features a wagon roof with stencilled purlins and a painted ceiling of celestial design. An elaborate painted processional frieze of oak and pine is carried on arched braces supported by carved pilasters and carved masonry consoles with impost blocks. Carved wooden chimneypieces, panelled dado, and a minstrels' gallery at the northwest end with decorative cast-ironwork characterise further spaces. A mosaic-tiled bathroom retains original fittings, and original light fittings survive throughout. Attic bedrooms contain Art Nouveau cast-iron fireplaces. The basement includes the original boiler for the hydraulic lift, housed in a dungeon space.

A rubble boundary wall with harl-pointing and boulder and mortar coping surrounds the property. Ashlar gatepiers with pyramidal caps and large ball finials flank elaborate wrought-iron gates with plain pointed railings.

An ornamental curved, honey-coloured sandstone arcaded ashlar balustrade with slab coping borders a terrace. Centrally placed is an elaborately carved bird bath on a squat column, decorated with fruit garlands and cherub heads beneath a dentilled capital. The large basin features a fluted shell base with acanthus leaf carving.