Riccarton Mains

Riccarton Mains

A late 18th-century farmhouse of two storeys arranged over three bays, with a rectangular plan. The building has undergone significant additions and alterations during the 19th and 20th centuries. The ground floor is constructed of random rubble stonework, while the first floor features tooled coursed rubble with broached long and short dressings. Windows are fitted with raised cills throughout.

The principal elevation faces north-west and presents a symmetrical composition. A snecked rubble gabled porch projects from the centre of the ground floor. The porch contains an 8-pane window at its centre, with small-pane glazed timber doors set into the left and right returns. Ground-floor windows flank the porch to either side; the first floor displays regular fenestration across all three bays.

The south-west elevation is asymmetrical and comprises three bays. A 20th-century doorway set within a rubble wall connects the house to an adjacent stable block; the doorway is fitted with a boarded timber door. Large-pane windows with top hoppers and raised margins light the centre and left bays at ground-floor level. The centre bay features a bull's eye window on the first floor. Tooled stone at the top of the left quoins bears an inscription reading "REPAIRED 1812". A flat-roofed bay projects from the right side, containing a 20th-century two-leaf glazed timber door with a droved and stugged sandstone surround.

The south-east elevation is asymmetrical with three bays and is harled. A glazed timber door occupies the centre of the ground floor, flanked to the right by a glazed small-pane door. A ground-floor window lights the flanking bay to the left. A late 20th-century gabled addition advances from the centre of the first floor and incorporates french windows opening onto a raised terrace. Two windows light the flanking bay to the right on the first floor; three windows serve the flanking bay to the left.

The north-east elevation is asymmetrical, comprising two bays, and is harled except for the right quoins. Windows serving the right bay are positioned off-centre on both ground and first floors; the left bay contains a ground-floor window.

The windows are predominantly 12-pane timber sash-and-case type. The roof is modern concrete tiled with a concrete ridge and stone skews. Two chimneys serve the building: a stugged coped gablehead stack on the south-west with circular cans, and a harled coped gablehead stack on the north-east with circular cans. Cast iron rainwater goods complete the external finishes.

The interior was not inspected at the time of survey in 1998.

Adjacent to the main house is a converted stable block, now in office use. This two-storey building is constructed of tooled random rubble with stugged dressings, droved to the margins.

The south-west (entrance) elevation of the stables is asymmetrical across four bays. A boarded timber door is set in the penultimate bay to the left; a stair window rises between ground and first floors in the penultimate bay to the right. Off-centre fenestration includes a first-floor window in the penultimate bay to the right, a first-floor window in the outer left bay, and a ground-floor window in the outer right bay. An additional off-centre window serves the first floor above.

The south-east elevation features a single gabled bay with a high rubble step at its centre on the ground floor. A doorway at the centre of the first floor is fitted with a two-leaf small-pane glazed timber door with a relieving arch or lintel.

The north-east elevation is asymmetrical across three bays. A boarded timber door occupies the centre of the ground floor with a first-floor window above. The flanking bay to the left contains a ground-floor window; the flanking bay to the right is blank. An outer right wall, formerly part of a threshing mill, features a boarded timber door set off-centre to the left with replacement coping.

The north-west elevation is asymmetrical. A wide doorway with a boarded timber sliding door is positioned to the left of the ground floor, above which sits a single-pane horizontal window. A wall of the former threshing mill advances to the left.

The windows are predominantly 12-pane timber sash-and-case type. The roof is graded grey slate with a lead ridge and irregularly placed rooflights. Stone skews are fitted; cast iron rainwater goods complete the external finishes.