Pilmuir House

Pilmuir House is a laird's house dating from 1624, with early 18th century alterations. It is a two-storey building with attic and garret, arranged in a three-bay rectangular plan, with a projecting stair tower and later service additions set within a re-entrant angle.

The walls are rubble with orange harling and ashlar dressings, featuring rounded arrises. The attic windows break through the eaves in gabled dormerheads. The roof is steeply pitched with ashlar crowsteps and beak skewputts, and is covered with grey slates. Ashlar end and ridge stacks sit prominently on the gables.

The north elevation is the principal facade, with three bays grouped towards the centre. A rectangular stair tower projects at the centre, featuring a deep surround to the doorway at its foot, decorated with bead and hollow moulding. Above the doorway is a decorative armorial panel, dated and inscribed with the initials "GH" and "AH" (for William Cairns and his wife). A small stair window and garret bedroom window sit above, with a gablehead stack to the side. A single-storey service bay with attic sits in the re-entrant angle to the left, with a small square window at ground level, an attic window above, and a catslide roof. A corbelled circular stair turret is set in the re-entrant angle to the right, standing on a squinch with tiny lights below the eaves of its conical roof, which sweeps into the main roof. To the right, windows to each floor are present, with a dormerhead to the attic window breaking the eaves. An early 18th century stone stair with a sweeping stone balustrade was added at the centre, leading to French doors fitted into the former window of the principal floor. Windows flank the bays at each floor, with a further dormerhead window to the attic at the centre.

The east elevation is of two bays, with a small window to the centre at ground level and windows to each bay in the floors above, including the garret. The west elevation is similarly of two bays, with an outbuilding adjoined at ground level and windows to each bay in the principal and attic floors.

Windows throughout are 12-pane and other small-pane glazing patterns in sash and case.

The interior contains a kitchen and office at ground level. The drawing room retains a 17th century ribbed plaster ceiling. Early 18th century pine panelling runs throughout the house.

Associated with the house are a walled garden, retaining walls, gatepiers, and a dovecot, all of which are listed separately as part of the designation. The rectangular walled garden has high rubble, harl-pointed walls continuous with retaining walls to the north, with sections of rounded coping. Two pairs of square bee-bole recesses are set in the north wall of the garden. Lean-to toolsheds sit outside the garden to the north, with a garden gateway flanked by an ashlar surround. Quadrant walls with ashlar coping flank the driveways. Rusticated ashlar gatepiers mark the entrance.

The dovecot dates from 1624 and stands within the walled garden to the south of the mansion. It is a lectern dovecot measuring 19 feet by 17 feet in plan, built of rubble with ashlar rat course and coping. A doorway to the south has a relieving arch. Square openings sit above the rat course on the south, east and west elevations. The interior contains 1000 stone nesting boxes.

Pilmuir provides an excellent and minimally altered example of a 17th century laird's house, comparable to Fountainhall in Pencaitland parish. The Lodge is listed separately.