Gardener's House With Sundial, Monkton House, Old Craighall Road, Old Craighall is a Grade B listed building in the East Lothian local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 27 November 1990. Residential building.
Gardener's House With Sundial, Monkton House, Old Craighall Road, Old Craighall
- WRENN ID
- over-niche-dust
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- East Lothian
- Constituency
- Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP: Chris Murray (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 27 November 1990
- Type
- Residential building
- Address
- Gardener's House With Sundial, Monkton House, Old Craighall Road, Old Craighall, EH21 8SF
- OS grid reference
- NT 334 704
- Coordinates
- 55.92215, -3.06727
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Gardener's House with Sundial, located at Monkton House on Old Craighall Road, is a 17th century building with 18th century additions and alterations. It has a rectangular plan and is a two-storey structure that appears to have three different building phases. Originally, it likely served as the gardeners' house for the gardens of Monkton House. The exterior is made of rubble sandstone with harl pointing, featuring chamfered arrises on the original openings.
The northern end of the building, which is the original pavilion, has a moulded lintel course above larger first-floor windows on the east and west sides, along with a former doorway that led to a now-removed forestair at the north end (the doorway is blocked). Smaller ground floor windows are present on both the east (with a relieving arch) and west sides, along with a modern porch on the east and a modern window inserted on the north. The roof is covered with grey slates and features a wallhead stack on the east, which has been raised in brick.
The central bays are irregular, with only one first-floor window on the west side, located under the eaves. There is a small window above a further modern porch on the west side, and larger windows flanking both floors. Evidence of a former end wall can be seen through skews and a truncated stack in the red pantile roof. The southern bay has a first-floor window under the eaves on the west side, with a former door now blocked and replaced with a window on the west side, and a blinded first-floor window above. There is also a blocked first-floor window on the south end elevation, and the roof here is also red pantiled.
The sash and case windows feature small-pane and plate glass glazing patterns.
Inside, the first-floor room of the original pavilion retains simple 17th century panelling, which is heavily painted, and a painted ceiling (revealed in 1995) that depicts a sunburst and the four seasons.
The sundial, dating from the 17th century, is a cubical stone dial mounted on a carved corbel that bears a sun-face, foliaceous ornament, and a grotesque mask. It is situated at the southwest angle of the house at the first-floor cill level.
Surrounding the property are garden walls made of rubble with rubble coping, along with stone garden sheds to the south that have piend roofs.
Local climate
Gardener's House With Sundial, Monkton House, Old Craighall Road, Old Craighall receives an average of 960 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 74% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 52% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 39 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 74% of listed buildings. Of these, 23 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
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- 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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