Pirnie Lodge

Pirnie Lodge

Pirnie Lodge is a two-storey, three-bay farmhouse built in 1735 with a single-storey L-plan extension dating to at least 1867. The extension is attached to the southwest gable of the main house and adjoins an earlier range shown on pre-1860 maps, with the newer section possibly incorporating some of this earlier fabric.

The principal east elevation features a grey rendered wall with painted stone window and door surrounds. The slightly off-centre entrance has roll-and-hollow moulded jambs and a stepped lintel bearing an inscription in bold letters on sunk panels reading 'MR/WHIS 1735', referring to the initials of Reverend William Hastie and his wife Isabella Shaw and the date of construction. Single windows flank the door on both sides, with two single windows above at first floor set close to the roof eaves.

The northeast elevation displays a grey rendered wall, a crowstepped gable with stone steps and moulded kneelers, and an ashlar gable-end chimneystack. A stone plaque records the reconstruction of this wall in 1989. The rear elevation is grey rendered, featuring a timber four-pane casement window at ground floor right and a central small window at first floor lighting the staircase. Three roof lights sit on the roof slope.

The single-storey L-plan range adjoins the southwest gable and is internally connected to the farmhouse. The east elevation of this range, adjacent to the main house, has a grey ashlar wall with dressed yellow sandstone margin, three single windows at centre and a panelled door at left. The southwest and rear elevations are random rubble with ashlar margins. Its crowstepped gable features a panelled door at right, a central altered window with round oculus above and a stone roof finial. The rear elevation has a central door, irregular fenestration and a winnowing window at far right.

The attached perpendicular range features a random rubble front elevation with central panelled door, small single window at right and winnowing window at left. Rear and side elevations are random rubble. The crowstepped gabled eastern elevation has two central windows with narrow slit opening and a plaque dated 1867 above, with a stone finial on top. The rear elevation shows two single windows and a winnowing opening at right.

The farmhouse roof is slated with crowstepped gables featuring stone steps and kneelers and gable-end chimneystacks. The L-plan range roof is slated with a rendered chimneystack at the centre of the wing adjacent to the farmhouse. Windows throughout are mainly timber two-pane sash and case.

The interior was largely modernised during the 20th and 21st centuries with few surviving features of the 18th or 19th century decorative schemes. A wall-set stone bowl is located below the small staircase landing window.

A detached single-storey stone outbuilding stands northwest of the farmhouse with thick random rubble walls and a single opening on the front west elevation with large jamb quoins. The roof is covered with bituminous sheeting and an exposed timber-framed roof structure is visible from inside. A single-storey flat-roofed brick extension is attached to the left of the stone outbuilding, with a small arched opening connecting the two structures.

Historical Development

Reverend William Hastie, minister of Slamannan parish, built Pirnie Lodge in 1735 as detailed on the front door lintel. Farm horse tax rolls from 1797–1798 record William Hasty as master of Pirney Lodge in 1797.

The First Edition Ordnance Survey map, surveyed in 1860 and published in 1862, shows the farmhouse and a row of three outbuildings adjoining the house at southwest, with a further perpendicular range and small block to the right of the linear outbuildings. A further detached structure was located northeast of the house.

The single-storey L-plan range follows the footprint of the earlier pre-1860 southwest outbuildings. A plaque on the perpendicular section gable shows it was added in 1867, though it possibly incorporates earlier fabric.

According to Stirlingshire: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments (1963), the front windows of the farmhouse were enlarged. The two back wall windows appear slightly reworked, with the central window originally having rounded arrises and the ground floor window being smaller. Two windows on the northeast elevation no longer survive. The farmhouse roof was originally thatched and later replaced with slates.

Historic photographs from 1975 show the L-plan range unroofed. Images from Falkirk District Council dated 1989 show restoration works to both the L-plan range and farmhouse, including alterations to openings, removal of the small single-storey front block, re-roofing of the farmhouse and partial reconstruction. The rear and northeast elevation were rebuilt in brick and the front elevation was re-rendered.