Threshing Mill And Granary, Nether Horsburgh

Nether Horsburgh Farm House, Walled Garden and Farm Buildings is a substantial farm complex of staggered construction, with the core of the farmhouse dating from around 1800, a mid-19th century extension, and the water-powered threshing mill, kiln and granary documented as newly built in 1804. The farm steading includes a range of associated buildings — byre, stables, cart shed, cattle court and granary — arranged around a cobbled yard, and is constructed throughout from coursed whinstone rubble, a material typical of the district. The complex is listed as a good example of a little-altered farm steading with its original buildings and overall plan surviving largely intact.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The site has a long history. Edgar's 1741 map of Tweeddale records it as Nether Horsburgh Mill, and a thatched farmhouse is known to have stood here in 1754, though this is believed to be the ruined structure sited to the north of the castle rather than the present building. The Horsburgh family formerly owned both Horsburgh and Nether Horsburgh Castle (both listed separately), but the estate passed from them around 1725. It subsequently changed hands many times, passing through the Earls of March and the Duke of Queensberry before being sold in 1788 by the fourth Duke to Thomas Bell, an Edinburgh candle maker. The water-powered threshing mill, kiln and granary were newly built in 1804, as recorded in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of November that year. The original farmhouse, walled garden, offices and servants' houses were described at the same period as "all built within these few years." By 1811 the estate was owned by Alexander Campbell, and later by Robert Nutter Campbell of Kailzie. Financial difficulties obliged Campbell to assign the estate to trustees, who sold it in 1841 to James Ballantyne of Holylee (listed separately). Ainslie's 1821 map shows the farm and corn mill in place, and the Ordnance Survey first edition of around 1857 records both farmhouse and mill building. The ruined 16th century Nether Horsburgh Castle, a scheduled monument, stands nearby and is listed separately.

It is believed the farmhouse began as a simple two-storey, three-bay late 18th century building with sash windows and harled walls. A wing was subsequently added to the west, with triple windows and a new doorway. The range of farm buildings added to the rear was originally used as offices, stables and servants' quarters. An unusual undated stone carved with a Latin cross within a circle has been built into the east elevation of this range. The site of the mill wheel and kiln remains visible, as does a sluice on the mill lade.

FARMHOUSE — EXTERIOR

The farmhouse is a two-storey and attic, five-bay building on a near L-plan. The original three-bay, T-plan house lies to the east, with a central stair bay projecting to the rear. The later two-bay by three-bay L-plan extension adjoins to the west, with a further two-storey flat-roofed extension filling the rear re-entrant angle. A range of single and one-and-a-half-storey farm buildings adjoins to the rear.

The principal (south) elevation is entirely harled and was re-roofed at the time the extension was added, concealing the join between the two building phases — though the differing first-floor window heights between phases remain visible. The older three-bay section to the right has a central entrance doorway (now replaced by French windows) and regular fenestration. The later two-bay extension to the left has a pilastered door surround to the right, with later multi-paned glazing and a timber door, and a window aligned directly above at first-floor level; to the left, tripartite windows serve both floors. A low garden wall adjoins at the south-east corner.

The west elevation shows two storeys and three bays at the end of the house, with a modern timber conservatory occupying the ground-floor right and centre. Three regularly placed bays serve the first floor, with the centre and right windows blind. The rear of the adjoining office and farm range is recessed to the left.

The north (rear) elevation is largely blind. The original house presents a blind elevation with the stair bay projecting to the centre; the ground-floor centre and left are concealed by the adjoining range, and the right portion of the original house together with the entire west extension elevation is concealed by the two-storey, three-bay flat-roofed extension. A blind wall end projects to the right.

The east elevation is gabled, with a later window to the centre of the ground floor and the rest of the elevation blind. A one-and-a-half-storey outhouse adjoins the north-east corner of the rear stair, with a large window to the right and a small window to the upper left; a timber-boarded door with a small glazed central pane serves the left return. To the right return, a continuous single-storey farm building range runs from left to right: first a bothy-style building with a later gabled timber porch at the door and rectangular windows; then a long blind building with a central timber-boarded door; then a pair of large late rectangular cart openings with timber-boarded folding doors incorporating small glazing panes at the top; and finally, to the far right, four stable entrances.

The principal elevations of the farmhouse have three-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows, with smaller plate-glass upper sashes and two-pane lower sashes. Some four-pane and twelve-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows serves the rear. The roof is pitched slate with lead ridging, flashing and valleys, plain skews and putts to the farmhouse, and painted cast-iron rainwater goods. The chimney stacks are of coursed whinstone and ashlar to the gableheads, with plain ashlar neck copes; few cans remain. The west stack now sits at roofline level as a result of the later extension. The later extension has taller harled wallhead stacks with red sandstone quoins. The whinstone rubble of the farmhouse is concealed by harling on the principal elevation, with plain offset quoins at angles and window margins.

FARMHOUSE — INTERIOR

A central stone-flagged passage leads to a pine staircase with turned balusters. The staircase rises in a single flight with an open well to the first floor, then continues as a closed flight to the attic. Some ceiling cornices survive. The east room has a stone bead-moulded fireplace surround. Some timber panelling survives within the later extension. The later south-west room has a timber and gesso chimneypiece and a pilastered tripartite window.

WALLED GARDEN

The walled garden is a rectangular enclosure formed from whinstone rubble walls with plain ashlar flat copes to the south, west and north sides. A plain vehicular entrance cuts through the east end of the north wall, aligned with a pedestrian entrance in the south wall, where the walls sweep down to form an inverted semicircle bisected by a path. The east wall and south-east angle boundary are formed by the rear of the single-storey farm building range and the farmhouse itself.

FARM BUILDINGS

The farm steading comprises the west range adjoining the farmhouse (described above under the east elevation), a south block containing the cart shed, byre and stables, the former mill complex to the east, a byre and stable range to the north, and a central cattle court with attached byre. The ground between the buildings is cobbled. The farm buildings are constructed from coursed and random whinstone with whinstone and tooled ashlar dressings.

SOUTH BLOCK — CART SHED, BYRE AND STABLES

The single-storey cart shed to the west has three segmental-headed openings with whinstone voussoirs and piers, and blind returns. The north-facing one-and-a-half-storey byre is five bays wide, with single windows (with tabbed ashlar quoins) to the first, third and fifth bays, and similarly styled doorways to the second and fourth bays — the left door now blind — with piend-roofed timber hayloft doors breaking the eaves. On the east elevation, the gable end of the byre is to the right with a rectangular-headed cart opening and a sliding timber door; to the left, a lean-to return of the stables has a now-blind door abutting the byre. The south-facing stable has a catslide roof formed from the rear of the byre; it formerly had three rectangular-headed cart shed openings, now infilled with timber stable doors, with a separate pedestrian door to the left.

FORMER MILL COMPLEX

The former water-powered threshing mill and granary is a one-and-a-half-storey building on a T-plan. The west elevation has a symmetrical five-bay ground floor: small square windows with whinstone voussoir lintels and six-pane timber sash and case windows survive to the first, third and fifth bays, with latched timber-boarded doors to the second and fourth bays; a boarded hayloft door with a piended roof breaks the eaves of the second bay. The left return has a gabled end with an arch-headed timber-boarded door to the upper floor; the right return formerly matched the left but the door has been infilled to form a small square window. The north elevation shows the return of the granary advanced to the right, an infilled slot for the water wheel in the re-entrant angle, and a door to the ground floor left of the east wing. The advanced centre of the east elevation formerly contained a partially demolished kiln and smithy; remains of rough whinstone walling survive at ground-floor level with remnants of the kiln and an interior fireplace. At first-floor level a central doorway — formerly an interior opening — has tooled ashlar quoins, with remnants of the adjoining gable alongside; various joist holes are visible. The returns of the east elevation and the west wing, which are blind, together form the south elevation.

STABLE AND BYRE RANGE TO THE NORTH

This is a single-storey, four-bay, symmetrical rectangular-plan range. Segmental-headed cart openings serve the first and fourth bays, each with half-height timber-boarded gates, and doorways serve the central bays. A small window is set to the right in the left return. The right return and its return are concealed by a later modern barn.

CENTRAL CATTLE COURT AND ATTACHED BYRE

Whinstone rubble walls to the north, west and south form the cattle court, with an entrance to the north-west now covered by a partially open timber gabled roof. The east boundary is formed by a single-storey whinstone L-plan byre, mostly blind, with a door to the north and an entrance in the west from the court. A slated ventilation roof partially survives.