Steading, Middleton Of Fonab

The building known as the Steading at Middleton of Fonab dates from the late 19th century and may incorporate earlier structures. It features a well-designed courtyard steading with large covered cattle courts and a mill with a granary. The exterior is constructed of snecked rubble with ashlar dressings and harl pointing, complemented by boarded timber doors.

In the courtyard, the southwest range has a northeast elevation with three broad gabled bays that project from a large roof covered in open-band slating. The gables on the center and right are timber-fronted and pedimented, featuring timber gates flanked by cast-iron columns. To the left, there is a slightly advanced rubble construction gable with two timber doors and a narrow brick bay in the re-entrant angle to the right.

The interior includes lightweight ironwork roof collars and braces, boarded timber gableheads, and later concrete and steel animal pens. The northwest range has a southeast elevation that is a tall piended structure, with a bay to the right of center featuring a two-leaf door and a six-pane window to the right, as well as a broad sliding door in the bay to the left.

The northeast range has a southwest elevation with minor alterations to the ground. It features three granary openings above to the left and two dormer-headed windows flanking a dominant shouldered stack to the right. The mill and granary consist of a tall two-storey range to the southwest.

On the northeast elevation, there is a large piended canopy supported by timber piers, with decorative bracing at the re-entrant angle, and a small square window to the left. The south elevation has a door at ground level with a window to the left and the rear of the cattle courts projecting to the right. The west elevation presents a gabled facade with a broad timber door located high in the center.

Flanking the entrance to the courtyard are square-section, pyramidally-coped ashlar gatepiers.