Pavilion northwest of Carsluith Castle

These former steading pavilions flanking Carsluith Castle, together with the L-plan steading building to the northwest, date from around the end of the 18th century, with the northwest building extended in the late 19th century. They form an unusually formal agricultural complex, designed to frame the earlier tower house and incorporate it as their centrepiece in a striking symmetrical composition. The scheduled monument (SM90062) is excluded from this listing.

Historical Background

Carsluith Castle was occupied by the Broun family until 1748, when the estate was sold to Alistair Johnston and subsequently passed to the Hannay family of Mochrum and Kirkdale. The Hannay family seat, Kirkdale House, lies approximately 2.5km to the southeast and was rebuilt to a design by Robert Adam around 1787–1788. It is likely that the steading pavilions were planned around the castle after this date. The 1971 listed building record suggests the pavilions date to the late 18th century, and John Gifford in The Buildings of Scotland dates them to around 1800, making them relatively early examples of Scottish farm buildings.

The Ordnance Survey Name Book for the parish (1850) describes Carsluith as the property of Miss Hannay of Kirkdale, comprising a large farmhouse and out offices, with the castle described as situated on the farm of Carsluith. It is possible that the northwest pavilion was the farmhouse referred to in this description. Both pavilions and most of the northwest building appear on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1850. The 2nd Edition map surveyed in 1894 shows the northwest building extended to the southwest to form an L-plan.

It is worth noting that in the 15th to 17th centuries, small castles and tower houses were typically surrounded by a barmkin — a walled enclosure containing ancillary buildings such as a kitchen, outer hall and stables — and the present pavilions occupy a location where such earlier ancillary buildings may once have stood.

The Pavilions

The two pavilions are two-storey, rectangular structures with symmetrical piended roofs — that is, hipped roofs with sloping rather than gabled ends. They stand to either side of Carsluith Castle, positioned forward of the castle's northeast elevation and linked to it by curtain walls. The external walls are painted rubble, with sash and case windows with mixed 12-pane and 4-pane glazing. Roofs are slated throughout, with stone ridge tiles, lead flashings and cast-iron rainwater goods. The west steading pavilion has a brick chimney.

Both pavilions have paired arches on their northeast sides and a single arch facing inwards toward the space in front of the castle. The southeast pavilion also has a single arch on its southeast wall. All these arches are now blocked or part-blocked in rubble, though most are pierced by smaller doors or windows. The round arches are of good quality and are stylistically characteristic of the years around 1800. It seems possible that some of the arches were always purely decorative and were never open.

The southeast pavilion is the former cart house and stable, with a loft space above accessed by external stairs to the rear, on the south side of the building. The interior was partially inspected in 2016. The building is currently in use as a café and retains no internal evidence of its former use as a cart house or stable. The northwest pavilion is now in use as a dwelling house and has a single-storey lean-to addition to the west.

The Northwest Steading Building

The detached single-storey steading range to the northwest was built in the early 19th century and extended to the south in the late 19th century to form an L-plan. It is constructed of painted rubble with a slate roof. The interior was partially inspected in 2016 and retains the simple character of a 19th-century farm building, with floors paved with setts. Part of the building remains in use as a stable. The long rectangular plan form, later extended to L-plan, is typical for a 19th-century farm building.

Setting

The setting of these former steading buildings is dominated by the remains of Carsluith Castle, a substantial 15th- to 16th-century stone structure with a courtyard area to the front. The castle is scheduled (SM90062) and is in the care of Scottish Ministers. The immediate setting of the group has changed little since the time of construction. The former steadings frame the castle and stand on a promontory in a commanding position overlooking Wigtown Bay to the south, protected by a natural ravine to the east.