Blackhills House

Blackhills House is a large house dating to 1837-8, the work of William Robertson, with significant additions and remodelling in 1870 and 1920 by A & W Reid. The main house is two storeys and three bays wide, with a two-storey, four-bay extension to the east added in 1870, with some later alterations and additions in 1920. The front is harled, while the sides and rear are of rubble construction, with ashlar margins and dressings. The main house has a central doorway with a corniced and pilastered doorpiece, flanked by narrow windows to either side. A similar arrangement is seen on the first floor, with a central window flanked by small, narrow lights. Ground floor windows are smaller than those above. A shallow, projecting pedimented bay is located centrally on the north elevation, now containing a later, canted two-storey window. A canted bay is also present on the west gable. Twelve-pane glazing survives in the front of the building; elsewhere, windows are predominantly two and four-pane. The building features deep, bracketed eaves, four symmetrical, panelled and corniced chimney stacks, and a shallow piended slate roof. The eastern wing is similarly detailed and includes a projecting centre bay and a cast-iron balcony on the first floor of the north elevation. The house was built after the estate came into the possession of the Earl of Fife, with the intention of creating a “new and commodious mansion house, with suitable offices.” A "Cottage for Blackhills" was originally designed and built with an entrance on a raised ground floor over a basement. The basement was revealed and a new central doorway inserted in 1870. Remains of a beehive dovecot are located in the garden, along with a Pictish symbol stone housed under a stone shelter.