Bowland

Bowland is a castellated Tudor-Gothic revival mansion house, built 1813-15 to designs by James Gillespie Graham, with John Smith of Darnick superintending. Subsequent additions were made to the rear and southwest in 1890 by George Henderson, and to the northeast in 1926 by Rowand Anderson and Paul. The building occupies a fine hillside location and is constructed of coursed dark brown whinstone with pale sandstone dressings.

The main structure is two storeys and attic with an irregular plan. It features a chamfered base course, ground floor cill course, and a corbelled and machicolated parapet. Fenestration is irregular with chamfered margins throughout.

The southeast elevation of the principal block comprises roughly seven bays. At the centre stands a castellated port-cochere with turret corner angles, wide Tudor-arch openings and a stepped parapet on corbelled brackets, accessed by a two-leaf timber door. Above this rises a heavily machicolated tower with a large Tudor-arch window. A square corner tower to the outer left features pointed-arch slit windows and a corbelled bartizan. To the outer right, turreted octagonal towers with blind-slit windows frame the outermost bay. A further wing extends to the right with a recessed section containing a low string course and cill course, above which sit bipartite windows and a large quatrepartite dormer window to the centre. The far right contains an advanced three-storey gabled section with a square-plan oriel to the first floor and a Tudor-arch moulding with date panel above.

The southwest elevation displays a large leaded and traceried pointed-arch stair window recessed to the centre. A gabled section extends to the left, alongside a large canted bay also to the left, which features a pierced parapet and a mullioned and transomed five-light window above, topped by round-arched moulding with a ball and cup finial. A banded octagonal corner tower marks the west angle.

The northwest (rear) elevation is roughly ten bays with strong horizontal emphasis, interrupted by string and blocking courses. Fenestration is irregular, with a large Tudor-arched Venetian window to the centre serving the kitchen, and flat-roof dormers at the centre. A gable to the far left mirrors the opposing gable at the southeast elevation. Behind the house stands an ornamental arcaded retaining wall with three recessed openings.

Windows throughout are of narrow stone mullioned, traceried and leaded casement design, many with pierced decorative timber frames to the principal elevation. The roof is covered in grey slate, with piended sections. Tall, broad octagonal and castellated chimneys rise to the ridge and wallhead, finished with clay cans. Garden steps descend from the port-cochere to a terraced lawn with a paved area, at the centre of which stands a cube-headed stone sundial.

The interior contains an entrance hall with ribbed plaster ceiling and principal staircase leading from it. An early 19th century stone fireplace, timber panelling and floor are evident in the hall. A decorative gothic cast-iron balustrade lines the staircase. The library features a marble chimney-piece, fitted bookshelves and cupboards, and timber dado. The drawing room contains a moulded chimney-piece and plaster cornice. Plaster-panel walls line the dining room. First-floor rooms are predominantly fitted with marble chimney-pieces and decorative cornicing. The cellar retains timber wine bins.

Associated with the main house are a pair of single-storey and attic, L-plan, piend-roofed garden cottages arranged symmetrically in a U-plan around a cobbled courtyard to the rear. They are constructed of whinstone rubble with sandstone dressings and feature tall tripartite pointed-arch windows to the ground at the gable ends. Co-axial stacks with clay cans serve both cottages. A large walled garden lies immediately to the south, with an additional curved wall to the southwest. A timber-framed lean-to glass house occupies the centre of the north wall, while the south side remains open to an orchard area.

The garage and former stable comprises a long rectangular-plan gabled building to the northeast of the house, built of roughcast stone and brick. A double garage occupies the far right; a single garage to the centre contains an internal staircase to a hayloft above; a workshop and store room fill the lower section to the far left. A diminutive pyramid-capped outbuilding with a decorative weathervane stands at the northeast angle.