Walled Garden, Old Duloch

Old Duloch House and its ancillary structures comprise a substantial estate complex dating from circa 1729, probably built by John Cant who acquired the property in that year.

The main house is a 2-storey, 5-bay mansion with a raised basement and attic, built to a rectangular plan. It is constructed of harled stone with dressed margins, quoin strips, and a moulded eaves course. The roof is a piended platform design with grey slates and includes small piended dormers to the south elevation.

The principal (south) elevation is symmetrical and formal in character. A splayed stair with modern cast-iron railings leads to a central 2-leaf timber panelled door, which has a roll-moulded architrave and rectangular fanlight with webbed glazing pattern. Two ground-floor windows flank the door, with five first-floor windows centred above them. The basement is lit by small circular windows flanking the stairs and by two further windows with cast-iron bars in the outer bays. Small piended dormer windows sit at the outer edge of the roofline. A single-storey outbuilding, now converted to a garage, abuts the house to the right with a plain gable end facing south.

The north (rear) elevation is near-symmetrical. A central piended single-storey porch provides access, with a central square window and cast-iron bars above it. A sunk basement door is located to the left, alongside an arrow-slit window in the outer bay. Two further arrow-slit windows sit to the right of the porch. A central stair window is positioned between the ground and first floors above the porch, with four first-floor windows to the outer bays. A central cast-iron roof light crowns the elevation. The east elevation includes a garage abutting the house to the left, with a partially obscured basement window to the right. The west elevation has a ground-floor window to the left and a blind window to the right.

Windows throughout are predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case designs; the dormer windows have 4-pane timber sashes. The rendered corniced wallhead stacks to east and west, along with the ashlar coped gablehead chimney stack to the garage, are characteristic features. Stone quoin strips emphasize the corners.

The interior contains original mid-18th-century fireplaces in the library and drawing room. The dining room is panelled in painted lime with gilt highlights to the panels and features a look-alike fireplace. Original white marble tiles are laid in the basement near the kitchen.

Adjoining the main house are former stables, dating to the 18th century. These form a single-storey, 5-bay rectangular range, now partly converted to a garage. The western (principal) elevation is rendered and features three stable doors to the right, with a modern window and garage door to the left. Between the central stable doors is a bas-relief carving of a horse head. The north and south elevations are of random rubble construction. The roof is pitched with grey slates and ashlar coped skews with scrolled skewputts. A plain gable faces north, and a 2-leaf timber boarded door sits to the right of the south gable. Two later window openings have been made in the east elevation.

The estate is enclosed by random rubble boundary walls. The western (main entrance) gatepiers are mid-19th-century works of square plan and chamfered ashlar with pyramidal caps and later carved birds-of-prey finials. Single plain square-plan gatepiers with pyramidal caps mark the terminus of the inner rubble wall to the west of the house and a wooded glade to the east.

North of the house lies a walled garden of square plan, divided into quarters by a central avenue running north-south. The southern boundary is a low random rubble wall with central low square-plan gatepiers having pointed pyramid caps. The northern, eastern, and western boundaries comprise high coped random rubble walls, with a low arched alcove to the northwest wall.

Historical Context

The property was probably built by John Cant in 1729 on land he had acquired. By the mid-19th century, the house was no longer the principal residence of the landowner. In 1844, John Cunningham, Lord of Session, built a new mansion called Duloch House at the south end of the estate (now demolished). During the second half of the 19th century, Old Duloch was converted for use as estate employee housing. The estate later passed to Bailie William Gibson, whose death resulted in the property being held in trust and administered by the Gibson Trustees. The houses and grounds were let on lease for many years. By the 1960s, Old Duloch had fallen into dereliction but was acquired and restored by Alastair Harper in 1969–70. The restoration involved renewal of floors and rebuilding of chimney stacks while retaining the original stone quoins.