Barjarg House

Barjarg House is a complex mansion with a building history spanning from the possibly 16th century to the early 20th century. The core of the house is an altered L-plan tower house, now located at the north-east angle. A second, duplicate tower was built to the west, and these are linked by a lower, three-storey, five-bay north-facing range, creating a roughly U-plan house with a symmetrical north elevation. A ballroom was added to the south of the original tower.

The house is constructed of rubble with ashlar dressings, featuring crow-stepped gables, corbelled bartizans, and parapets. The original tower stands four storeys high with an attic. It has a door within the re-entrant angle, protected by a yett. Conical-roofed bartizans rise over the north gable, and were raised and partly rebuilt in 1914, along with a crow-stepped dormer and an inserted east-facing mullioned window. A stair turret to the south likely dates to the 17th century.

The duplicate tower, while similar to the original, is not identical and displays chequer-blocking above a dummy gun loop in the north gable and at the original wallhead. Its north gable also features conical-roofed bartizans that were raised and partly rebuilt. Two tall kitchen windows on the east elevation extend through two storeys. A later addition, possibly dating to circa 1806, is situated to the south, housing a segmental-arched carriageway leading to a rear court.

The inner range’s advanced and canted central entrance bay may also be from circa 1806, featuring a doorway designed by J M Bowie. Remaining window openings are hood-moulded, with slits in the flanks. Tripartite windows with moulded architraves are found on the top floor, while the other bays have single windows. The house has a consistent small-paned glazing pattern, with most windows being sashes. A detached, conical-roofed game larder sits to the south, built above the rear courtyard and accessed via a ramp from the west. Coped stacks are present throughout, and all roofs are slated.

The interior of the original tower is vaulted at ground-floor level. Extensive oak panelling, undertaken by Bowie, adorns the house, notably in the ballroom, with minstrel's plasterwork in the dining and drawing rooms. Balustraded terrace walls, also by Bowie, surround the house.

The building sequence is somewhat complex, with the symmetrical north front possibly established in the late 17th century. However, the central block and duplicate tower house are of different dates, and the owner believes the inner range to be from 1806. The north front resembles that depicted in a view published in 1829. The duplicate tower bears a lintel inscription dated 1680, but this may be a reset. Records from 1763 indicate the presence of east and west ranges, the former L-plan with wings to the north and south.