Glenreasdale Mains Taigh-Tuathanais agus Togalaichean / Glenreasdell Mains Farmhouse and Steading

Glenreasdale Mains is a traditional agricultural complex on the Kintyre peninsula, about eight miles south of Tarbert, located on the north side of the B8001 Redhouse to Skipness road near the coastal hamlet of Claonaig. Dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, it comprises a two-storey, three-bay farmhouse at the centre of a U-plan steading, with lower ranges adjoining to either side and a detached two-storey barn enclosing a courtyard to the north. The complex is no longer farmed and now forms part of a private sporting estate.

The farmhouse is rectangular on plan with pitched, slated roofs and rubble walls that are rendered and painted. A full-height, L-plan addition with a gable front and re-entrant porch was added to the main south elevation in the later 19th century, obscuring the centre and west bays of the original building. The original farmhouse has raised skews to the roof, with the first floor openings smaller than those on the ground floor. End stacks with replacement clay cans and cast iron rainwater goods are present. Openings largely have raised and painted margins; windows are uPVC casements.

The side elevations are abutted by lower steading buildings extending north to form the courtyard. The western range is a long, single-storey building L-shaped on plan with a piended roof. It contains openings to the main elevations and narrow ventilation openings suggesting former use as a byre. The eastern range comprises an L-plan single-storey section with attic adjoining the farmhouse, featuring gabled dormers and a chimneystack to the north gable. The remaining range is single-storey with a piended roof and a large square-headed opening with sliding door to the courtyard. Some openings have been blocked. Windows are largely uPVC, though some traditional metal and timber-framed windows remain, and some timber-boarded doors are present. Both ranges are thought contemporary with the main house but may contain earlier fabric.

The detached rectangular-plan range to the north of the courtyard, likely a barn with hayloft, appears to date from the early 19th century and was extended to either side in the late 19th century. Openings concentrate on the main south elevation facing the courtyard, with hayloft openings to the south and east. The west elevation is gabled with skews; the east has a piended roof.

Interior photographs from 2021 show the farmhouse is plainly detailed with simple cornices, panelled window architraves, some moulded window and door surrounds, and timber fireplaces. Twentieth-century alterations include fitted wardrobes in upstairs rooms. The original layout remains readable: a central hallway and landing with rear stair, from which principal rooms are accessed. The east L-plan wing connects to the main house at ground floor level and contains a separate stair.

The steading buildings have plain interiors with rubble walls and open timber roofs. Timber stalls remain in the west range; twentieth-century machinery occupies the north block.

To the south stands a set of squat, rendered and painted gate piers with large domed pyramidal caps and iron gates marking the former entrance drive. Twentieth-century farm buildings and agricultural sheds to the east are excluded from the listing.

The Military Survey of Scotland (1747-1755), conducted after the Jacobite rising of 1745, depicts a farming township at 'Glenrisdale' comprising a large square-plan building with a group of small linear buildings to the east. This is believed to represent an earlier building on the site, with parts possibly incorporated into the current house or steading.

A U-plan group first appears on Langlands map of 1793, captioned 'Glenristol'. The name varied during this period, including 'Glenreesdale', 'Glenrisdell' and 'Glenristole', before being standardised to Glenreasdell on twentieth-century Ordnance Survey maps. It is now largely known as Glenreasdale.

Glenreasdale Mains was part of the tenanted farm holdings of the nearby Stonefield estate, owned and improved by Colin George Campbell Esq. (1811-1887). The Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1848-58 describes the accommodation at 'Glenrisdell' Mains as 'A superior farm house and offices'. The complex first appears in detail on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1867, published 1868), showing the rectangular-plan farmhouse, adjoining steading buildings, detached barn, two detached rectangular-plan ancillary buildings to the east (replaced in the early to mid twentieth century by current corrugated sheds), a walled garden to the southeast, and a tree-lined drive to the south.

The 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1898, published 1899) shows the present L-plan extension had been added to the front south elevation by this time, along with two small square-plan additions at the rear (now demolished). The detached barn to the north is shown extended at east and west ends by this time, with one detached range to the east demolished.

The early twentieth-century Ordnance Survey map (revised 1915, published 1922) shows the remaining detached eastern range incorporated into a large agricultural shed extending north. Rubblestone walls and cast iron columns from former cart shed openings remain on the south side, though photographs show substantial twentieth-century alteration. An additional detached range shown north of the main steading complex on the Six Inch Ordnance Survey map (revised 1915, published 1924) has since been removed.

Current mapping shows the detached barn to the north reduced in size to the west, with a circular-plan silo constructed in its place. Claonaig Estate acquired Glenreasdale in 1991 for use as private sporting ground. Most recently (2010s) the farmhouse has provided accommodation for Claonaig Estate workers and storage.