Rock Cottage, Joppa Pans, Musselburgh Road, Edinburgh

Rock Cottage, located at Joppa Pans on Musselburgh Road in Edinburgh, is a two-storey cottage, likely dating from the 17th century, with later alterations and an added attic. The exterior is harled and features a base course.

The south elevation facing Musselburgh Road has four bays, which are evenly spaced at the first floor and originally had timber architraves from the 19th century. A later porch is positioned centrally between the second and third bays, featuring a boarded door. The ground floor is mostly blank, except for a door on the outer left; a door on the outer right was removed in 1988.

The north elevation at the rear has an irregular arrangement of bays. There are windows at the first floor that break the eaves. A modern glazed door is located on the outer left, with a window at the first floor; the second bay is blank at the first floor; there is a modern glazed door and a window at the first floor in the third bay; the fourth bay has a window at ground level and another window to the right at the first floor; the fifth bay has a window at ground level; and the outer right has windows on each floor.

The south elevation features 12-pane timber sash and case windows, while the rear has a variety of windows including 4-pane, 8-pane, and 12-pane timber sash and case windows, along with a 6-pane timber hinged window at the first floor of the outer right bay. The roofs are covered with grey graded slate, with a steeper pitch at the rear and raised sections to cover each first-floor window; there are modern rooflights on the right side of the south elevation and two at the rear. The gables have diamond-section wallhead stacks with dentilled coping and circular stacks. The wallheads on either side of the bay to the outer left at the rear have brick dentilled coping, and there were previously tall stacks flanking the central door on the south elevation.

Inside, the ground floor may have once been vaulted, and there is a stone and timber-clad stair leading to the first floor. Shutters are in place and functional, with most original timber beams still intact, and a mud with straw bonding wall divides the attic space.

The boundary walls consist mainly of rubble and are located at the rear. The rear garden has vaults beneath it near the house, with little evidence of salt pans aside from bath stone bricks, and there are outbuildings to the west.