No 11 Cottage, Crichton

No. 11 Cottage is one of a group of six farmworkers' cottages built in 1885, designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson. A mid-20th century extension was added later. The cottages are situated in Crichton and were built to house workers at Crichton Mains farm, for which Anderson also designed the farmhouse between 1885 and 1887.

The buildings are a single storey and arranged symmetrically around a central arched thoroughfare that leads to drying greens at the rear. They are constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. The principal, southeast, elevation features a central gable with a pointed-arched pend containing rubble voussoirs and a hood mould. An inset architraved date stone sits below the gablehead, flanked by plain stone skews. The roof is slate-covered, with small stone stacks positioned along the ridge. Four cottages flank the archway; each has a flush surround with a tripartite window to the right of the doorway and a bipartite window to the left. Two stone stacks serve each row. The end cottages feature an entrance doorway on the main block and a window in the re-entrant angles, with gable ends and a window topped by a circular window.

The southwest elevation shows a single-storey, flat-roofed extension that returns from No. 9. A high rubble chimney stack is topped with a stone neck cope. The northwest, or rear, elevation has its original form largely obscured by single-storey, flat-roofed extensions to both the central four cottages and No. 13. A similarly flat-roofed extension runs along the return of No. 14 on the northeast elevation, alongside a high rubble chimney stack with a stone neck cope.

The front windows are 6-pane casements, slightly bowed and arranged as bipartite and tripartite configurations. The roof is graded slate, with modern Velux roof lights incorporated into the rear pitch. Chimneys have single or triple cans.

The interior remains unseen.

Originally, each cottage had its own small front garden, a shared driveway, the rear green, and a small outhouse and toilet. Later, flat-roofed kitchen/bathroom extensions were added to the rear or side of each cottage. More recent, larger replacement additions have altered the rear elevation, diminishing its original simplicity. The front elevations and gardens are now enclosed by a hedge and a low rubble wall. Historic records, including plans from the Rowand Anderson Collection at the University of Edinburgh, provide further details.