The Hermitage And Summer House, Ascog, Bute

The Hermitage is a mid to later 19th-century building, originally a school and headmaster’s house, with substantial later alterations and now used as a single residence. It is asymmetrical in design, built over two storeys and seven bays, reflecting an eclectic style with Old English half-timber detailing. The exterior is whitewashed harl, extensively adorned with half-timbering. A painted, chamfered cill course runs along the base, with a raised, painted string course delineating the first floor. The eaves are supported by timber brackets, and the windows have timber astragals. The roofs are gabled and feature finials, predominantly with octagonal caps. A timber, bracketed rear verandah is present, along with painted hoodmoulds above the ground floor openings at the rear. To the south stands a single-storey, pitched summer house constructed of boarded timber, featuring a revolving, four-leaf door at its centre.

The west elevation, the main entrance front, has a part-glazed, timber panelled door beneath a gabled canopy, offset to the left of centre. Flanking this are single windows, with a bipartite window to the left and a five-sided canted window to the outer left. A further part-glazed timber panelled door, also beneath a gabled canopy, is positioned in the penultimate bay to the outer right, accompanied by a quadripartite window to the left and a tripartite window to the right. Bipartite windows are found on the first floor in the penultimate and outer right bays.

The east, or rear, elevation is divided into two wings. The main wing has a part-glazed timber panelled door in the outer right bay. Bipartite windows are situated in the two bays to the left. A timber balustraded verandah projects forward, supporting a projecting first floor, with a three-sided canted window centred above, and three-light corner windows flanking it to the left and right. An engaged three-sided canted window is found on the ground floor in the outer left bay, topped with an octagonal finial. The north wing features a single window on the ground floor in the outer left bay, a lean-to four-light projection in the outer right bay, and a single door in the re-entrant angle to the left.

The majority of the glazing has been replaced with timber, although some eight-pane timber sash and case windows remain on the rear verandah. The roofs are covered with grey slate, featuring ball finials and terracotta ridge tiles. Red sandstone ashlar coping is present on the whitewashed harl ridge and wallhead stacks, topped with various circular terracotta cans.

The interior is extensively timber panelled, with timber cornices and fluted pilasters flanking round-arched, timber panelled doors. Timber arcading incorporates fluted Ionic columns tapering to the base, supporting broken round arches. A hammerbeam ceiling is found in the dining room, complemented by fluted pilaster detailing and a blind balustrade with regularly-disposed tapered and fluted balusters, enclosing a first-floor gallery.

The summer house is a slightly raised, single bay structure with a circular base, featuring a four-leaf, part-glazed boarded timber door centred beneath a gable.