Stables And Dovecot, Clifton Hall

Clifton Hall is a Scots Baronial mansion designed by David Bryce in 1850. The building has two main storeys with a raised basement and a first floor that breaks through the eaves, with attic accommodation at intervals. It is constructed of stugged squared and snecked sandstone with ashlar dressings and mullions, and features round towers, bartizans with roll-moulded corbels, gablet dormers and dormerheads, and crowstepped gables. The plan is rambling and asymmetrical.

East (Entrance) Elevation

The east entrance elevation is asymmetrical. An advanced gabled entrance bay is flanked by pepperpot bartizans. A perron stair leads to the door, which has a lugged, roll-moulded architrave. Above the door is a tripartite stone mullioned window framed by a stepped hoodmould that continues as a string course on the returns. A window sits at first floor level, with a small window in the gablehead, topped by a thistle finial. Each bartizan has a small rectangular window, a candle-snuffer roof, and a finial. A stair tower breaking through the eaves stands in the re-entrant angle to the left.

To the right of the entrance is a taller crowstepped gabled block articulated over four storeys by windows that decrease in size from ground to third floor. The gable is clasped by a substantial five-storey round tower to the outer right. Narrow windows mirror those of the main elevation. A billeted corbel course runs beneath the towerhead, which has a balustraded parapet on deeper corbelling. Access to the balustraded towerhead is via a corbelled turret stair on the north elevation in the re-entrant angle.

To the south of the porch entrance are three recessed asymmetrical bays. At ground level, there is a window at the extreme left with a door and window to the right. A large tripartite stone mullioned window at first floor lights the stair hall, with a single window to the left at the re-entrant angle. Regular dormerheaded windows appear at second floor level. A broad projecting gable sits to the outer left, with a canted oriel window at first floor over a ground-floor window and below a second-floor window. To the south of the main house, a recessed single-storey link block with an attic breaking the eaves connects to the projecting crowstepped gable of a two-storey service block, which is in turn abutted by outbuildings advanced to the south.

West (Rear) Elevation

The west rear elevation is an eight-bay symmetrical range. The penultimate outer bays are canted and corbelled to square at first floor level. At principal floor level, these bays are bridged by a stone consoled and balustraded balcony with double scale and platt stairs. A bipartite window sits in the basement and a tripartite window at principal floor level bridges the centre bays. Four dormerheaded windows appear at first floor level. The canted bays have basement windows, five-light windows at principal floor (arranged 1-3-1), bipartite windows in the gableheads at first floor, and small attic windows, with apex stacks. The outer bays have pepperpot bartizans and a basement window to the outer right.

Immediately to the right is a single-storey gabled link block with raised basement leading to a recessed 1930s Gothic hall to the south. This hall is two storeys with three asymmetrical bays. The ground level is built of stugged squared and snecked sandstone, with squared and snecked sandstone for the upper floor. A string course divides ground from first floor. The hall has crowstepped gables, with the outer gabled bay to the right advanced. There are four windows at ground level—one at either end and two to the centre—comprising two tall bipartite leaded four-centred windows with stone mullions, transoms, and trefoil cusps. A window sits in the gable to the left at first floor level, with a corniced gablehead stack. The advanced bay to the right has a jettied gablehead with a stone mullioned five-light window. A modern skylight sits to the right of centre. An unsympathetic modern flat-roofed two-storey dormitory abuts to the south.

North Elevation

The north elevation is an asymmetrical gabled range with a round tower to the outer left and a bartizan to the outer right. A round turret on roll-moulded corbelling sits at the centre between M-gabled bays corbelled to square with gabled towerheads. A door with a stop-chamfered surround is placed off-centre to the west between the gables. Windows appear to the left and to the outer left and right, corbelled to square with a pitch-roof at second floor level. A small window sits in the gable. At principal floor level, there is a bipartite window to the left of the turret, a smaller window to the outer left, and a tall tripartite window to the outer right. At second floor level, a window is offset to the left, with a small window offset to the left in the gablehead of the outer right bay. A window sits in the bay to the left of centre at first floor level. A smaller window is centrally placed in the outer left bay, with a dormerheaded window to the outer left.

Windows and Roofs

The windows are twelve- and eight-pane sash and case, with three-pane large-pane glazing at principal floor on the west elevation and tripartite windows to the north. The roofs are grey slate, with fish-scale slates on turrets and the tower. Finials top the bartizans and tower of the main front. There are squared, corniced gablehead stacks, with stacks also placed along the roof ridge.

Interior

The interior has a small vestibule with two internally expressed turrets at right and left of the stair to the main hall. The main hall has a heavy oak staircase at the south end, with a dentil and egg and dart cornice in the main stair hall. The dining and drawing rooms open off to the west, lit by bay windows, with a bead and reel cornice. The library between the rooms has shelves topped by masks. Chimneypieces are of Peterhead granite. The Gothic hall has heraldic stained glass, a ribbed ceiling, and a timber chimneypiece with two tiers of columns.

Stables and Outbuildings

The outbuildings of the main house extend southeast in a rambling line. An early 19th-century stable court is incorporated at the south of the range.

North Elevation (Stable Court)

The north elevation faces the entrance court at right angles to the main house. It is built of squared and snecked red sandstone with ashlar margins and a string course. The asymmetrical two-storey elevation has a first floor breaking the eaves. A door into the court sits in the second bay from the right, with a roll-moulded stone surround. Flanking windows include a six-pane sash and case to the left and a plate glass sash and case to the right. A modern door has been inserted to the outer left, with a modern aluminium flue immediately to the right of the door. Four dormerhead windows have alternating triangular and segmental pediments. A bartizan on roll-moulded corbelling terminates the east corner.

East Elevation (Stable Court)

The east elevation has squared and snecked sandstone for the gablehead to the outer right and random rubble for the ground and long range. There have been alterations to openings and roof height. The single-storey structure with attic has a blocked door visible to the right and evidence of blocked upper-floor windows. Two flat-roofed dormers appear. A modern addition has been built in the re-entrant formed with this range and the rear of the block to the southeast.

South Elevation (Stable Court)

The south elevation, at right angles to the east-facing range, is a single-storey, six-bay cottage. It is built of squared and snecked sandstone with ashlar chamfered margins. The slightly advanced west gable is crowstepped. Regular twelve-pane sash and case windows appear, with the window in the west advanced bay larger. Three louvered, gablet ventilation dormers sit in the bays to the east. Recessed behind and also facing south is a low two-storey range with pedimented dormerheaded windows and crowstepped gables.

Dovecot

The dovecot is an early 19th-century structure dated 1812. It is a symmetrical, ashlar, octagonal dovecot sited above a segmental, low, arched pend into the courtyard. It has a base course and string and band courses. The archway is in red sandstone rubble with expressed voussoirs and an ashlar keystone inscribed with the date "1812". The arch springs from a moulded impost. The passage is roofed by a later grey sandstone ashlar dovecot with a base course, blank frieze, and step-back blocking courses. Ashlar-margined oculus flight-holes sit in the centre panel of alternating facets.

Interior (Dovecot)

The interior is a square-plan arched pend open to the east and west, with blocked arches to the north and south supporting the dovecot, which is now roofless and floorless. Each face of the octagon has two bands of nesting boxes, each section containing twenty nesting boxes, giving 320 in total. The spandrels are bridged by modern wooden joists, with relieving arches above.

Clifton Beag

To the south of the range is a free-standing rectangular-plan, two-storey cottage. It is aligned north to south on ground falling to the north. The cottage is built of squared and snecked sandstone with stugged, stop-chamfered margins, with quoins, pedimented dormerheads, and crowstepped gabled elevations.

South Elevation (Clifton Beag)

The south elevation has a gabled door at the centre with flanking windows.

East Elevation (Clifton Beag)

The east elevation is four-bay with regular fenestration, comprising twelve-pane sash and case windows at ground level. Dormerheads to the first-floor windows have alternating finials of star, flower, and thistle.

North Elevation (Clifton Beag)

The north elevation is gabled and three-bay, with a door at the centre and flanking windows. A square plaque sits in the gablehead.

West Elevation (Clifton Beag)

The west elevation has a door at ground level to the outer right. A stone forestair leads to a first-floor door, with a modern window on either side. The angle is curved at ground level and has sharp arrises above.

The cottage has twelve-pane sash and case windows, with modern plate casement windows on the west elevation. The roof is slate with crowstepped gables. There are square, coped stacks—two end stacks and centre ridge stacks.