Boswell's Summerhouse, Auchinleck House is a Grade B listed building in the East Ayrshire local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 31 January 1992.
Boswell's Summerhouse, Auchinleck House
- WRENN ID
- quartered-tracery-sorrel
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- East Ayrshire
- Constituency
- Kilmarnock and Loudoun MP: Lillian Jones (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 31 January 1992
- OS grid reference
- NS 508 231
- Coordinates
- 55.47966, -4.36089
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
A summerhouse dating to circa 1760, it is a picturesque manmade grotto, likely expanding a natural cave, carved from the red sandstone east bank of the Dippol Gorge, to the east of Auchinleck House. The roughly constructed doorway features chamfered pointed arches, and the sides have similarly treated windows. Inside, the grotto is approximately 15 feet 7 inches wide and 11 feet high, with a moulded cornice at a height of 7 feet 6 inches and a coffered ceiling.
It is reputed that Samuel Johnson visited the summerhouse on 4 November 1773. Lord Auchinleck, the host, reportedly told him that the grotto cost less to construct than an ordinary room of comparable size. Johnson's visit occurred during his tour of Scotland, in the company of Lord Auchinleck’s eldest son, James Boswell, who was Johnson’s travelling companion.
Local climate
Boswell's Summerhouse, Auchinleck House sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,390 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 96% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 53% of listed buildings. Of these, 18 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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