Eskadale House

Eskadale House is a classical two-storey house dating to circa 1790, with a later 19th-century wing added to the east gable. The original house is set over a raised basement. It presents a polished ashlar facade to the south, contrasting with a tooled ashlar basement. The west return gable is rendered and treated to resemble ashlar, while the rear is harled with tooled ashlar margins. The later wing has harled front elevations with tooled ashlar margins.

A Roman Doric portico shelters the centre entrance, which is approached by steps that overhang the raised basement. Flanking windows are set within shallow, round-headed recesses, connected at the base and impost level by band courses. A moulded cill course links the first-floor windows. The west return has three bays with some blind windows. The rear elevation is wide, with a slightly projecting central bay and raised ground floor windows that were originally set within shallow, round-headed recesses, now altered and partially obscured. A raised basement service block projects at the rear, concealed beneath a grassed terrace, and has a rubble front with an ashlar parapet, a central segmental-headed entrance, and flanking lancet windows.

The windows are fitted with 12-pane glazing. A balustraded wallhead die is present at the front and sides, along with paired corniced wallhead stacks (a single stack to the later wing). The main house has a shallow piended platform slate roof, as does the later wing.

The interior includes an entrance lobby with a corniced and block-pedimented doorpiece, and an inner stairhall with a rear-facing stairwell. The stair has a simple balustrade and a polished handrail. The stairwell has a late 18th-century plaster ceiling, and the ground floor rooms have cornices. A carved chimneypiece is found in the west ground floor room, possibly the original drawing room. A later 19th-century drawing room has contemporary panelled doors, window shutters, a ceiling cornice, and a chimneypiece.

Described as “an elegant mansion” in 1841, Eskadale House had a rear service entrance shown on the 1872 Ordnance Survey map, but the later drawing room wing was not depicted. A simple mounting block stands in front of the house.