Ross Mains

Ross Mains is an early classical country house, dated 1728, and possibly designed by James Smith. It is a 2-storey, 5-bay building with a sunk basement and a tripartite plan. The house is constructed of limewashed rubble with red ashlar dressings. The south elevation features a pedimented doorway with a lugged architrave, a depressed ogee head, a consoled cornice, and a Queensberry crest in the tympanum. It has plate glass sash windows, bold rusticated ashlar clasping pilaster strips, an off-set base course, and an eaves course. The cornice breaks forward at the centre and ends, and there are paired stacks. The roof is steeply pitched, piended, and leaded with graded slates. A single-storey rear wing to the northwest is not original.

The interior has been altered, but retains some original moulded cornice plasterwork and woodwork, along with panelled doors. A 19th-century staircase features simple wooden balusters. Some original chimney pieces remain. The basement contains remains of original stone steps, and the loft has timber silhouette balustrades.

The attribution to Smith is based on stylistic and circumstantial evidence, with comparisons drawn to the west door of William Adam’s Craigdarroch house (1729) and the Kirkpatrick Mausoleum at Closeburn (1742). The steading is not included in the listing. The house was reported as neglected in 1986.