Knockhill

Knockhill is a country house, with a main block dated 1777, although the house itself may be several decades earlier. It is a symmetrical, three-part building of two storeys and five bays, with a basement, and includes 19th-century additions consisting of three ranges. The walls are painted rubble with contrasting ashlar margins and dressings; the portico is of red ashlar. The roofs are piended and slate-covered.

The main block features rusticated quoins, steps with bottle nosings leading to a recessed central porch, and an engaged portico with two inner Doric columns. A narrow pediment sits above the cornice, and the doorway and sidelights are arranged in a Venetian window style, with a panelled door and a traceried fanlight. The ground-floor sash windows have 18 panes and dropped cills; the upper windows have 12 panes. Margins link with the eaves course. The moulded, deep main cornice runs over all elevations. Symmetrically placed stacks are visible, and the roof has a bellcast profile. A stair turret is located near the centre of the north elevation.

Additions include a canted, margined bay on the east flank, a bow-ended single-storey wing to the west, and a rectangular-plan wing to the northeast, featuring a central Venetian window on its three-bay east elevation.

The interior contains some cornice plasterwork, panelled doors with architraves, and timber and marble chimneypieces. An inscription on the portico reads "Too small for envy/for contempt too great," along with the initials "AJ" and "MB" and the date 1777. The recessed entrance is comparable to that at Rammerscales House in Dalton Parish.