Steading Cottage, Thurston Mains

Steading Cottage is a single-storey, T-plan farm cottage dating from 1857, designed by Robert Bell. It is a well-preserved example of a popular style of farm cottage, characteristic of the Dirleton area and representative of designs found in Loudon’s Cottage, Farm and Villa Architecture (1833). The cottage is constructed of squared and snecked red rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings.

The north elevation features three bays. A slightly projecting gabled doorway is centrally placed, with a small-pane fanlight above the door and a narrow slit in the finialled gable head. Windows are located in the flanking bays. All windows are sash and case style with a 12-pane glazing pattern. The roof has coped skews with bracketted skewputts, and gable end stacks. Grey slates cover the roof.

The cottage was built as part of a larger steading, which shares a consistent design with the steading at Thurston Home Farm. A former steam threshing mill and piggery that were once part of the complex have been demolished. The original farmhouse and walled garden, located to the northeast, are listed separately. C. McWilliam’s Lothian (1978), page 262, provides further details.