Lodge, Glenormiston House

Lodge, Glenormiston House

A single-storey picturesque lodge designed for William Chambers around 1850, sited approximately 4.5 miles from Peebles. The building is rectangular in plan with a distinctive pagoda-style piended overhanging roof. It is constructed in harled stonework with painted plain margined window surrounds (some later insertions) and slightly projecting sills. The roof incorporates a piended-roofed canted window and an in-filled verandah, with later side and rear extensions added during the 20th century.

The principal (east) elevation formerly featured a three-bay open projecting porch with barley twist uprights, ashlar balustraded wing walls and central entrance. This porch is now in-filled and harled, with plain timber uprights and decorative ogee and turned ball finial bracing near the eaves to the third bay. A later semi-glazed timber door with four main panes and margin lights is surmounted by a two-pane rectangular fanlight. A long window occupies the left return. A single-storey flat-roofed extension adjoins the right return, following the line of the former porch, with small windows to both left and right returns. A further extension extends to the right.

The south (road) elevation displays a projecting three-sided canted bay window with modern lights to each side, surmounted by a pagoda-style roof. To the right, the left return of the former verandah features a long later window and decorative brace timber work adjoining the eaves. A recessed blind return of a rear extension is visible to the left.

The west (rear) elevation is largely concealed by a flat-roofed single-storey extension (partially obscured by a yew tree), with a blind right return and the original elevation hidden from view as of 2001.

The north elevation's original wall, which once contained a central window and wallhead stack, is now concealed by a single-storey square flat-roofed extension, although the stack survives above the roofline.

The original glazing plan has been lost; later plate glass windows with top hoppers have been installed. The pagoda-style piended slate roof features overhanging splayed and blocked timber eaves with lead ridging and flashings. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods are present. Two tall coursed ashlar chimneys stand on high plinth bases with chamfered angles and projecting moulded neck copes; both are fitted with single cans (now modern replacements). One chimney rises from the centre of the roofline, the other from the former north wallhead.

The interior has not been inspected but is in residential use.

The gatepiers, gates and railings form a striking ensemble and are integral to the listed entry. A pair of tall square ashlar gatepiers flank the vehicular access, each with a base plinth, panelled shaft and projecting neck cope. Above each pier stands a swept plinth supporting ashlar ball and spike finials (some spikes now missing). A pair of wrought-iron gates in matching style features an ornate attached overthrow surmounting a central floriate roundel. Flanking pedestrian gates display decorative support panels with intricate acanthus and scroll work infill and plain supports to the rear. Plain wrought-iron boundary railings with floriate motif decoration (crossed bars and possibly acanthus leaves) form dog bars at the base, with scroll work supporting the upper rail and spearhead finials. All railings are inset into a low ashlar wall, curved at the drive entrance. A further pair of identical gatepiers terminates the railings to the east and west. All railings and gates are painted black with gold tops.

Historical Context

The estate of Glenormiston originally belonged to the seventh Earl of Traquair, whose trustees sold it for £8,400 to John Scott, writer to the Signet. Scott dramatically improved the land, extending cultivation and planting larch belts. His heirs sold the estate in 1805 to William Hunter for £9,910, who renamed it "Glenormiston" and continued to develop the fields, plantations and farmsteading, along with a now-demolished mansion. Following Hunter's death, the estate was sold for £24,000 to William Steuart, who invested a further £10,000 in improvements, draining more land, adding pavilion wings to the main house and laying out gardens.

William Chambers, a publisher and Lord Provost of Edinburgh, purchased the estate in 1846 for £25,500. He created a new entrance to the property with its own lodge (this building) and continued to improve the land and alter the farm steading. Chambers subscribed to new methods in husbandry, having the steading harled and whitewashed, and it became regarded as one of the best adapted modern husbandry farms in the county. He built a number of labourers' cottages to complement the improved farm. By 1864, the estate's plantations were maturing and considered "valuable"—a sharp contrast to its earlier status as the "ten pound land of Ormiston," an open hillside.

The principal house, Glenormiston, has been demolished. This former farmhouse, located further up the hill at the rear of the site, has been adapted to serve as the principal dwelling.

The retention of the wrought-iron gates and railings is noteworthy, as most such fittings were removed and melted down during World War II. The entire entrance, comprising both the lodge and gates, dates from Chambers's 1846 remodelling of the estate and is illustrated in an engraving in his 1865 book on Peebleshire (History of Peebleshire, pp. 377–380).

The lodge has undergone alteration during the 20th century. The formerly open verandah has been in-filled and its original barley twist uprights replaced with plain timber supports. A small extension has been added to the right of the verandah. Nevertheless, many original features survive, including the fine ashlar chimneys once found on all estate buildings. The lodge and gates together continue to form a picturesque entrance to an estate now without its main house.