The Kennels, Dunragit House

The Kennels, Dunragit House

This collection of former estate structures comprises a gamekeeper's cottage, adjacent byre, kennels and pigsty, situated within the historic Dunragit estate. The buildings were constructed between 1875 and 1894 and are built in squared and snecked rubble with red sandstone ashlar dressings.

The gamekeeper's cottage features bracketed overhanging eaves and originally had a rectangular plan, later altered with modern extensions. The principal south elevation features a gabled timber porch with a segmental-arched doorway. To the left of the doorway is a canted window with half-piend roof, situated within a gabled bay. The modern northern extension is harled and incorporates red sandstone elements in the window margins and quoins, similar to the original fabric. The eastern extension mirrors the original structure's materials to a greater degree. Internally, the cottage retains some historic detailing, including panelled doors, simple cornices, architraves and a fireplace.

The similarly detailed T-plan kennel has bracketed overhanging eaves and a 2-penned enclosure to its south. The enclosure has semi-circular coping, ashlar-dressed walls and a hooped iron fence. The east and west elevations are gabled. The pigsty, located to the north of the main cottage, has the same stone type and masonry style as the cottage and kennels. The associated rubble built gabled byre, northwest of the cottage, has a rounded-arch cart door on its principal elevation, with rubble masonry set in a contrasting orientation around the arch. The roof has terracotta coping at the gable ends.

Roof finishes across the buildings are slate. Windows and doors are a mixture of timber framed and modern UPVC.

The gamekeeper's cottage, kennels, pigsty and byre are absent on the 1875 Dunragit estate map but appear on the Ordnance Survey map for Wigtownshire XVIII.7 (surveyed 1893–1894, published 1894), indicating construction between these dates.

The property has undergone alterations both before and after its listing in 1993. A modern two-storey extension was added to the cottage's north elevation, first appearing on the 1972 Ordnance Survey map and further extended in later editions. A smaller extension on the east elevation uses traditional materials that complement the original cottage.

The pigsty has undergone general modern refurbishment, both internally and externally. In 1989, it was re-roofed and galvanised railings were installed atop the open run. The gabled byre has been recently re-slated, altered and internally modernised. In 1989, it was converted into a kennel, and a small rear extension was added that has since been removed.

The setting of the property has been subject to change since its construction. The 1894 Ordnance Survey map depicts a walled Peasantry to the north of the gamekeeper's cottage, which was disassembled by 1957. To the south, the area enclosed within the former kitchen garden has been developed. Glasshouses first appeared within the walled area on the 1972 Ordnance Survey edition, and contemporary maps show multiple dwelling houses in this area. Despite these changes, the property's setting remains legible as part of a country house estate, with other ancillary structures associated with this former use still present, including East Lodge, Home Farm, and The Sawmill.