Manse, 2 Freelands Road, Ratho, Edinburgh

The Manse, at 2 Freelands Road, Ratho, Edinburgh, is a 2-storey building over a raised basement, dating from 1803. It is a 3-bay, rectangular manse situated on a prominent site, exhibiting classical detailing. An earlier, mid-19th century pavilion addition is also present. The exterior is constructed of squared, coursed whinstone with droved white sandstone margins, including an ashlar doorcase. An eaves band is visible, along with a stugged band course between the basement and ground floor. The quoins are stugged with droved arrises.

The south elevation is symmetrical, featuring an oversailing ashlar stair leading to the central entrance. Plain cast-iron railings are set before the corniced and pilastered doorcase, which contains a panelled door with a sun-ray fanlight and flanking windows. Smaller windows are located on the first floor, with a tripartite window at the centre; the centre light is blind, and the side windows are glazed. The ground floor is punctuated by three symmetrically placed barred windows, and the basement has three barred windows. A single-storey basement pavilion is recessed to the left, constructed of rubble with a half-piended roof and a window on its west elevation. The wing’s lower ground level exhibits broad, chamfered arrises, painted and swept to a square below the cill.

The north elevation, facing the road, is of rubble whinstone with painted stone window margins. It is asymmetrical, incorporating later additions and the pavilion. A stair window is centrally placed, and a later door has been inserted into a window on the ground floor to the outer right. A single-storey, cement-rendered block with a flat roof projects to the outer left. A low, lean-to storage shed, rendered and with a lean-to roof, abuts the pavilion’s basement on the outer right. Windows are placed to the outer left and outer right, with a smaller, later window immediately to the right of the left window.

The east elevation is partially rendered and shows mirrored windows at ground and first floor on the outer left, while the outer right has blocked windows. Two smaller attic windows are symmetrically placed within the gablehead. The west elevation also features symmetrically placed attic windows in the gablehead. The west return of the pavilion has a central window, and four small barred windows are visible in the basement.

The ground floor windows on the main south elevation have plate-glass glazing in sash and case frames. The west elevation features 8-pane sash and case windows, while the remaining windows have 12-pane sash and case glazing. The roof is covered in grey slate, and a modern skylight is present on the north ridge. The gablehead stacks are broad, coped, and made of sandstone (with replacement cans). Ashlar coping is present on the skews. The interior was not inspected in 1992.

The property is enclosed by a rubble boundary wall with semicircular coping. Simple ashlar octagonal gate piers, topped with pyramidal caps, are also present.