Dalswinton House

Dalswinton House is a circa 1785 mansion house, with additions and alterations dating to circa 1920. It was originally designed with a symmetrical, severely classical appearance, and is three stories high with a sunk basement. The exterior is finished in polished red ashlar, with channelled detailing at the basement level.

The original south elevation features five bays, with architraved windows topped by cornices at ground level. A curved five-light window now replaces the original central porch. The north elevation has a full-height central bow, while the west elevation has five narrower bays with a platt that spans the basement. Additions to the east include a full-height, recessed bay at both the north and south, featuring windows set into tall panels, and a projecting entrance bay integrated into the east facade. This entrance bay features channelled pilaster strips, a large round-arched mullioned and transomed window above, and a Doric-columned and open-pedimented doorpiece with a panelled two-leaf door set in cavetto reveals. A mutule cornice runs along all elevations, topped by a partly balustraded parapet and symmetrically placed chimney stacks. The roof is a shallow-pitched piended slate roof.

A curved basement area to the east is enclosed by a cast-iron balustrade. A tunnel is located to the northeast, beneath the main drive.

The house was built for Patrick Miller, the inventor of steam navigation. A print published in 1792, held in the Ewart Library, Dumfries, shows the house without the roof parapet, although early 20th-century postcards indicate that the parapet was added before the house’s extension. The house, and potentially some of the estate buildings, may have been designed by Alexander Nasmyth, a close friend of Miller’s. It is suggested that Nasmyth’s son, Patrick, was named after Miller.