Cart Shed And Granary, Balmule

Cart Shed and Granary, Balmule

The property comprises a 17th-century square-plan tower house that has been substantially altered and extended, along with associated outbuildings and garden structures.

Main House

The tower house is built on a slope and presents two storeys with a basement and attic. It has been partially engulfed by a circa 1890s house to the north and flanking wings. The stonework is irregularly coursed on the tower itself, with snecked coursing elsewhere. Ashlar quoins and surrounds frame the openings throughout.

The principal (north) elevation features a central section with flanking advanced gabled wings. The right wing contains a 2-leaf panelled door with a semi-circular fanlight, fronted by an advanced pilastered porch with arches on each elevation—the left and right arches are glazed. A surmounting balustrade crowns the porch, with stone steps leading up from ground level. A mullioned and transomed window sits to the right of the porch, with a matching 1st floor window centred above and an attic window in the gable apex. The central section displays two small basement windows, a tripartite ground floor window with stone mullions and transoms featuring stained glass depicting three Roman goddesses, a ground floor window to the left, and four 1st floor windows including a tall stained glass window to the far left with stone transom. The left wing has two ground floor windows with stone transoms and a pedimented tripartite 1st floor window with stone mullions and transoms, beneath which a curvilinear ashlar base runs below the cill.

The east elevation incorporates a flat-roofed porch extension to the right with a bipartite window, a 2-leaf garage door at centre, and a single window to the left. A ground floor window with stone transom appears to the left, with two small central windows above. Two 1st floor bipartite windows with stone mullions occupy the upper storey.

The south elevation shows a recessed porch at the far right with an adjacent window and a door to the left; a curved door opening with flat lintel and plain fanlight also appears. The central tower house section is flanked by advanced gabled wings. The right wing contains a central basement window with bipartite ground and 1st floor windows (stone transom and mullion) and a single attic window in the apex. The central tower section has a basement window to the right and two small windows to the left, with three ground and 1st floor windows; later insertions appear on both floors to the right. The left wing mirrors the right wing except for a corniced box bay window, which projects slightly at basement and ground level. This wing includes a single basement window, a tripartite ground floor window with stone mullions and transoms but no side lights.

The west elevation features a corniced, canted 2-storey fenestration bay with a single ground floor window and a mullioned and transomed 1st floor bipartite window with single lights in the splays. Above are single 1st floor windows, a ground floor window to the left with stone transom, and an 1st floor bipartite window to the far left with stone mullion.

Decorative glazing patterns are used throughout. Diamond pattern astragals appear in the upper panes of most later house windows. The principal elevation's central section has intersecting outer astragals in the 1st floor upper panes. The majority of other windows feature a single lower pane and 6, 8 or 12 upper panes. Windows on the south elevation of the tower house section—specifically the ground and 1st floor right windows—were probably inserted circa 1890. Three 1st floor windows to the left have been raised with their lower portions blocked in, possibly indicating a former change in floor level. Rooflights open to the rear.

The roof is steeply pitched with grey slate, decorated with clay ridge tiles and finials at the gable apexes. Bargeboards feature decorative king post and tie-beams on the principal elevation gables, with overhanging eaves and exposed rafters. Coped ridge stacks and a shouldered, coped wall end stack to the east wing complete the roofscape.

The interior was not inspected in 2000.

A walled garden of rubble construction encloses a large garden to the west of the house. The walls have replacement timber doors, a flat wallhead, and buttressing to the inner east wall.

Coach House, Cartshed and Granary

These structures date to the earlier 19th century and are constructed of random sandstone rubble with droved surrounds to openings, quoins, and an ashlar eaves course.

Coach House

The coach house stands to the south of the courtyard, presenting a symmetrical principal (south) elevation. A central arch with replacement timber infill doors features an inset keystone carved with a crest, the initials HW and E (for Henry Wardlaw and wife Elizabeth), and the date 1605. A pediment rises above the entrance with three doocot flightholes in its tympanum. Flanking wings set back from the principal elevation each contain a round-headed window.

The west elevation includes a window (formerly a door), with a modern building adjoining to the left. The north elevation has a door to the left and a modern timber building to the right. The east elevation shows a blocked central door with a window to the right.

Cartshed and Granary

The cartshed and granary to the north of the courtyard presents an open front with three segmental-arched cart openings separated by stone piers. Three square granary openings are centred above these openings. Stone steps ascend from the south to a central door in the east gable wall. Other elevations were not inspected in 2000.

Gatepiers

A pair of corniced stone entrance gatepiers with pyramidal coping stones marks the main entrance. A second pair of stone gatepiers with pyramidal coping stones stands on the driveway between the entrance piers and house, leading to a former road and bridge over Meldrum's Mill Burn.