The Manse, High Street, Aberlady is a Grade C listed building in the East Lothian local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 27 January 1993. 2 related planning applications.

The Manse, High Street, Aberlady

WRENN ID
ruined-brass-moth
Grade
C
Local Planning Authority
East Lothian
Constituency
Lothian East MP: Mr Douglas Alexander (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
27 January 1993
Address
The Manse, High Street, Aberlady, EH32 0RB
OS grid reference
NT 462 798
Coordinates
56.00887, -2.86369
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Manse is a large, two-storey house with a basement, likely dating to around 1843. It appears to be a remodelling of an earlier manse, possibly by the architectural firm Burn and Bryce. The exterior is white-painted harl with ashlar stone detailing, incorporating Tudor Revival elements.

The main south elevation features a central front door set within an advanced, gabled bay with an ashlar surround. The first floor is jettied out over a corbelled course, with a window above and a blank plaque set into the steeply pitched gable. A stair window is visible to the right, along with a chamfered window featuring a corbelled squinch, located in a re-entrant angle on the first floor. To the left is a narrow bay with two basement windows, a ground-floor window, and a first-floor window breaking the eaves in a gabled ashlar dormerhead. A broader gabled bay is located at the outer left, containing a window on both the ground and first floors. The east and west gabled elevations have irregular window openings.

The north elevation showcases two tripartite windows at ground floor level, and three windows on the first floor, each breaking the eaves in gabled ashlar dormerheads. The windows are mostly sash and case with a 12-pane glazing pattern, with margined plate glass used in the window to the left of the front door. Grey slates cover the roof, complemented by coped ashlar stacks with decorative cans. There are also gable finials.

The garden walls are constructed of rubble and feature a semi-circular cope. A pointed arched gateway with a curved overthrow is present on the south side, along with a wooden door with decorative ironwork hinges.

Within the garden, at the rear, is an early 19th-century Gothic grotto. This arcaded chamber has two pointed arched doorways flanked by windows, and is constructed of rubble with tufa and pebble rockwork. It is similar in style to the listed Gosford Ice House.

Historical records and maps indicate the original manse was located on the main road beside the church. The current Manse, set back behind a wall and potentially incorporating elements of the old building, was constructed for Rev J H Tait, who served as minister from 1861 to 1878.

Local climate

The Manse, High Street, Aberlady receives an average of 950 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 73% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 66% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 14 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 86% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 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
  • Related listed building consents — 2 applications
  • 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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