Sauchenside Farmsteading, Chesterhill

Sauchenside Farmsteading, Chesterhill

Sauchenside Farmsteading comprises an early 18th-century farmhouse with later additions, set within a U-plan steading courtyard to the rear and a further block to the south. The complex occupies the site of the now-extinct village of Sauchenside, whose name derives from the Scots word "sauch" meaning willow, signifying "edge of the field of willows."

The farmhouse is a 2-storey rectangular-plan building with dressed ashlar porch, crowstepped gables, and window surrounds. The exterior is harled and painted, concealing the main building material, with a partial brick stack to the rear. The steeply pitched roof indicates its early construction date. A single-storey, U-plan steading adjoins to the rear, with a further block to the south, mostly harled and painted rubble construction.

SE (Principal) Elevation: A large crowstepped lean-to porch sits off-centre to the left, with a window to the front and left return, and a door to the right return. A window sits to the left of the porch, with a small window and larger replacement window adjacent on the ground floor right. A small oval window sits above the porch, with lucarne dormers featuring catslide roofs flanking on either side. A single-storey later L-plan piended extension adjoins to the ground floor right, with a window to the left and patio doors to the right.

SW Elevation: A blind wall with crowstepped gables leads to a harled gablehead stack. The aforementioned single-storey piended extension adjoins the ground floor, with a single window to the left and the steading adjoining to the left return.

NW (Rear) Elevation: Irregular replacement fenestration appears on both floors. A later piended porch addition sits to the right with a centrally placed door. A large staggered stack sits off-centre to the right, featuring ashlar side quoins with rendered in-fill, a brick extension with stone neck cope above, and a rooflight to the left of the stack.

NE Elevation: A blind wall with crowstepped gables leads to an exterior harled gablehead stack. A low harled wall with semi-circular coping adjoins the single-storey steading to the right.

The farmhouse features mostly 2-pane replacement timber sash and case glazing, though some 2, 4, and 12-pane windows survive to the rear. The pitched roof is covered in graded grey slate with catslide dormers to the front and a Velux rooflight to the rear, with stone ridges and painted cast-iron rainwater goods. Gablehead stacks have replacement ventilation cans. The interior was not inspected at the time of survey (2002).

The farmsteading is arranged as a courtyard with ranges to the southwest, northwest, and northeast adjoining the house to the southeast. The northeast range comprises two blocks: a left-hand rectangular block, single-storey (later heightened) for vehicular storage, and a right-hand block with three centrally placed timber doors with single square windows between, a further small window above the left doorframe (the left two bays previously open for vehicular access), and an opening to the right of all bays. A pair of timber gates links both buildings, with a stump of brick stack at the centre of the roof gable.

The northwest range comprises a pair of adjoined single-storey gabled buildings: a 2-bay left building with sliding timber doors, and a 3-bay cottage to the right with a centrally placed door and flanking small window.

The southwest range comprises two stepped-down buildings. The left building features an opening for vehicular access to the left and a later double lean-to garage to the right, with a small window in the gable end adjoining the house and a door below to the left return, a large hinged opening and adjacent door to the rear. The right building is 3-bay, with a pair of doors and central window (showing traces of earlier differing fenestration), later brick walls supporting a water tank to the right, a centrally placed door with catslide wallhead dormer to the rear.

The southeast range, adjacent to the house, comprises a modern barn concealing a previously heightened, partially harled barn with an original single-storey building featuring a door in its right return.

The steading features mostly 9-pane timber sash and case windows, with others later replaced with boarding to the lower parts concealing the original plan. Roofing is a mix of pantile and corrugated iron, with cast-iron Carron lights throughout. The steading, adjoining the main road, represents an early construction that was heightened during the 19th century and subsequently used as farm buildings. It is likely that both farmhouse and steading are original structures from the former village, possibly originally cottages.

The name appears in historical records as Saughenside on J Laurie's Plan of Edinburgh and Places Adjacent (1766) onwards, changing to Sauchenside on Robert Kirkwood's Map of the Environs of Edinburgh (1817).