Cockburn House, Currie

Cockburn House, Currie

A 17th-century laird's house dated 1672, with substantial later alterations. The building is of two storeys and attic, arranged in an L-plan. It is constructed in rubble with polished sandstone dressings and margins, featuring chamfered reveals. The roof is of grey slate, steeply pitched, with stone roof ridge, corniced and coped apex stacks, and crowstepped gables.

The entrance elevation faces northeast and comprises an L-plan arrangement with a single-bay block to the left and a two-bay block to the right. Between these sits a canted entrance stair tower positioned in the re-entrant angle. The tower is of three facets breaking the eaves line and is semi-octagonal in plan. It displays a broad, roll-moulded Renaissance door surround with moulded lintel facing northeast, now fitted with a later 19th-century boarded half-glazed door. A low mounting block stands immediately to the right of the door. Above is a blank panel with moulded surround, with a small window directly above and a further small window at the uppermost level. Narrow windows run from ground to first floor in the northwest-facing facet of the tower. The single bay to the left has windows symmetrically disposed from ground to attic level. To the right of the tower, the two-bay asymmetrical block contains a window at ground level and a smaller window at first floor to the left; to the outer right are windows at ground and first floor. The dormerheads are pedimented with finials, including a fleur-de-lis finial on the right, and the date 1672 appears on the right pediment. A single-storey block projects to the outer left, containing a door and window. A mid to later 19th-century single-storey L-plan block extends to the outer right, finished with polished stone margins.

The southeast elevation presents a near-symmetrical three-bay block with a lower single-storey extension to the outer right. A central door has a droved margin and is fitted with a half-glazed door with five-pane fanlight. Windows are symmetrically disposed above and in the bays to left and right. A blocked door stands against the outer left window, and a blocked window at first floor appears between the centre and outer left windows, above which is a tablet sundial without gnomons. Two pedimented dormerheads with ball finials are near-symmetrically positioned above the blocked window and to the left of the outer right window. An earlier 19th-century single-storey addition, slightly recessed to the outer right against the right gable, contains a window to its left. The windows and doors largely date to the later 19th century, except for the dormerheads.

The southwest elevation features a broad crowstepped gable to the outer right, with windows rising from ground to second floor. To the left is a two-bay block with pedimented dormerheads and windows symmetrically disposed except for an additional window at first floor to the right. Gabled dormerheads with rose and thistle finials lie to the right and left respectively, with the date 1672 inscribed on the right pediment. A mid 19th-century single-storey four-bay asymmetrical block extends to the left against the left gable, constructed in rubble with stone margins, raised cills, a door and window to the right, a window off-centre to the left, and a small window to the outer left. A tall coped stack and a flat-roofed block advanced to the outer left complete this elevation.

The windows are predominantly four-pane sash and case, with three-pane top-hopper over two-pane examples at the dormerheads, twelve-pane sash and case on the southwest elevation at ground level, and plate glass sash and case elsewhere. Many windows date to the 19th century as new insertions or enlargements of originals.

Dormers throughout are distinguished by triangular pediments and finials, including thistle, rose, star, and fleur-de-lis designs.

The interior is plain and largely remodelled in the 19th century.

A low rubble boundary wall with harl-pointing and semicircular coping surrounds a rectangular-plan area to the southwest of the house.

Two sundials are associated with the building: a plain two-faced wall-mounted example at the northeast angle of the house, and a tabular dial at the upper stage of the southeast elevation.