Steading And Sawmill, Elie House

The Elie House steading and sawmill complex dates primarily to the later 18th and early 19th centuries, with subsequent enlargement in the mid-19th century. The east range, built in the mid-19th century, is near-symmetrical around a central block and is two storeys and three bays wide, featuring three segmental-headed cart sheds at ground level, with single-storey wings projecting to the north and south. The north wing terminates in a single-storey lodge with a small, V-plan bay window facing the drive. The south wing is linked to the main range by a screen wall containing a gateway leading to a single-storey cottage with a gable facing the courtyard. The east front has a central door with a timber porch, flanked by tripartite windows set within coursed square rubble, a moulded eaves course, and a piended slated roof with a pair of square corniced stacks at the ridge; a small, harled addition extends to the rear.

The south range is an early 19th-century row of three cottages, with a piended slated roof, rectangular cavetto corniced stacks at the ridge, and linked by a screen wall. The west range is a later 18th-century block of two storeys and seven bays, with paired round-headed arched openings at ground level, featuring key and impost blocks, five square openings over, and coursed squared rubble with polished window and angle margins. A lower two-storey block is situated to the north, with a further single-storey wing returning to the east to form the north range. The north range, dating to the early 19th century, features three segmental-headed cart sheds, a block cornice, and a slated roof, piended at the east end.

The ‘island block,’ within the east range, is a single-storey, rubble building from the early 19th century, with altered openings and a piended pantiled roof. Running parallel to this range to the west are three early 20th-century piended pantiled ranges.

The sawmill, built in the later 19th century, is attached to the rear of the west range of the steading. It comprises a two-storey engine-house with a gabled roof and a short, single-storey gabled wing to the west at its north end. A tall, four-storey pele tower, linking the engine-house to the steading, contains and disguises the engine-house chimney and incorporates a doocot. With the exception of the southwest corner, the tower has chamfered angles and a corbelled crenellated parapet with alternate round and square angle bartizans.

A horse-mill was located on the present site of the sawmill; it is shown complete on an 1853 Ordnance Survey map. The sawmill is depicted on an 1893 Ordnance Survey map. Estate plans from 1832 further detail the layout.