Craighlaw

Craighlaw is a 16th-century tower house, significantly altered and extended in the 1860s by Wardrop and Brown, with a mildly Baronial mansion built adjoining the tower to the west.

The original tower is rectangular with three storeys and an attic, constructed of rubble with chamfered angles – a feature also present at Castle Stewart in Penninghame Parish. Two round-arched doorways were added in the 19th century; the western doorway reuses parts of the original roll-moulded jambs. Most window openings have 19th-century margins, either chamfered or roll-moulded. The upper floors have been rebuilt on top of a ground floor barrel vault, dating to 1864. Small, conical-roofed bartizans with square, embattled parapets and a rooftop platform are set into the angles. The building has crowstepped gables and end stacks.

The 1864 house is a large, asymmetrical, two-storey addition with a lower service court to the north. The main facades face south and west, and are built of coursed bull-faced grey rubble with polished sandstone ashlar margins, quoins, and dressings. The east elevation has gabled dormers. The south elevation has a long, six-bay front, with gabled bays projecting to the second, fourth, and sixth positions. The sixth bay also has a projecting gable end to the east range. A consoled ashlar balcony is located in front of the first-floor window of the second bay. All windows are single-light. The west elevation is an asymmetrical five-bay range, with the outer bays wider, gabled, and projecting; the bay on the left is larger and contains a tripartite window on the ground floor. To the right, a glazed door is set within an ashlar stone surround, and a corbelled, three-light oriel window is positioned above it on the first floor. Otherwise, the windows are single-light, sash and case with plate-glass glazing, except for the tower, which retains small-paned glazing. The gables are crowstepped, and topped with finials. Axial corniced stacks and good graded slate (with some tile) cover the roof.

Heraldic stones are set into the exterior of the tower; a small rectangular panel displays the arms and initials, likely of William Gordon and his wife, J.C., with the date 1644. Inside the 19th-century hall, a more detailed and elaborate coat of arms is displayed (a full description can be found in the RCAHMS Inventory 98), featuring decorative borders and carved masks.

A sundial is located to the west of the house. It is a free-standing ashlar dial on a moulded pedestal, with a gnomon.

The interior contains much good original work, including panelled doors and shutters, original plasterwork, carved timber, and stone chimneypieces in a high Victorian and Italianate style.