Ashley Cottage, Main Street, Carlops

Ashley Cottage, along with The Biggin and Weavers cottages, forms a group of three single-storey, three-bay cottages dating to circa 1785, with later additions to the rear. These cottages are located on Main Street in Carlops, set close to the roadside opposite a longer row of six cottages. They are part of a larger group of buildings of group value, including Carlops Church, Pentland and Elphinstone, the Allan Ramsay Hotel, and a row of four cottages. The cottages were built as part of a planned village layout established in 1784 by Robert Brown, the laird of Newhall, along the main Edinburgh to Biggar road. Originally designed for cotton weavers, the cottages are constructed of harled rubble with freestone dressings, and feature timber porches. The rear of the cottages has a variety of 20th-century rendered brick, stone and timber single-storey additions and dormers. The cottages have timber-framed windows with varied non-traditional glazing patterns, grey slate roofs, and ridge stacks with clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods are also present. The ground floor plan of each cottage was originally very similar, consisting of a kitchen and former workroom flanking a through-passage opening directly off the front door. Originally, both ground floor rooms were fitted with box beds and wide lintelled sandstone fireplaces projecting on rounded corbels in the kitchen, although these features no longer survive. As the textile industry declined, the village adapted and became a health resort, and retains its traditional character due to its linear arrangement. The cottages retain their original scale and massing and contribute positively to the architectural and historic character of Carlops.