Kirkconnell Hall Hotel

Kirkconnell Hall Hotel is a country house, now operating as a hotel, comprised of two distinct building phases, with more recent additions to the north. The core of the house dates to 1838, built as a two-storey, three-bay structure in the style of Walter Newall, and is relatively plain in design. A larger, three-storey range was added in 1870 to the west, and a detached fragment of a tower house stands beyond.

The 1838 house is constructed of red ashlar. It features windows with lying-pane glazing, primarily architraved bipartites with timber mullions, corniced at ground level. The east elevation has a pedimented central square porch, now with a modern outer doorway set within it. A basement extends to the south, and the ground floor incorporates rectangular projecting and canted windows. Continuous deep horizontal bands run at the base and at the first floor sill levels, and there is an eaves course and cornice. Stacks have square flues, and the roof is a piended design covered with modern tiles and extending over the modern addition.

The 1870 range replicates elements of the 1838 house and incorporates plate-glass glazing. Its south elevation is three bays wide, with a porch set into the advanced bay on the right. The west flank is four bays wide, and the roof is piended and covered with slate.

The tower fragment is located in the northwest corner and built from pinned large rubble blocks with a splayed base course; it incorporates a horizontal gun port.

An ashlar-coped low wall runs along the west side, with square gatepiers. The wall contains good, fragmentary cast-iron work with anthemion ornament.

The building is designated as a Category C(S) building due to unsympathetic alterations. The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland (RCAHMS) inventory, dated 1920, only noted the site of the tower (reference 276). Archibald Arnott, physician to Napoleon Bonaparte, was born at Kirkconnel in 1772. The building’s designation changed from Category B to Category C(S) on 4th October 1988.