Birkhill House, near Earlston

Birkhill House is a former laird's house of mid-18th century origin, with possible earlier fabric, extended and altered during the 19th century and again in the early 20th century. The estate's history can be traced back to the 12th century, when the lands of "Birchensyde" and "Legerdeswode" were granted to Walter Stewart by Malcolm IV in 1160. Ownership is fully recorded from that point until 1689, when the estate passed to the Shillinglaw family. Armstrong's Map of 1771 marks the property as "Birkhillside", as does the 1776 Survey and Maps of the Roads of North Britain or Scotland, which records the owner as "Shillinglaw Esq". The Old Statistical Account of 1795 confirms that Major Shillinglaw of Birkhillside was the only hereditary proprietor in Legerwood Parish, indicating the house was established on this site by the mid-18th century at the latest, and possibly earlier. Historical ownership patterns suggest the southern section of the house may have pre-1700 origins, which would make it a significant laird's house within the parish.

The house is an irregular-plan building comprising two principal sections. The main section, facing south, is two storeys high with five bays. It is one room deep in plan, with evenly spaced windows set well below the eaves — a characteristic feature of the laird's house type. The large distance between the tops of the first-floor windows and the eaves line is unusual: 18th century three-bay houses of this type more typically have first-floor windows abutting the eaves, and this extra height may indicate a building of higher status. The walls to this part of the house are notably thick, and the small window openings within them are further indicators of an early build date. Adjoining the rear is a lower two-storey, four-bay wing dating from the early to mid-19th century. The Borders and Berwick: An Illustrated Architectural Guide describes the house as 18th century, extended eastwards around 1850. An advertisement in the Kelso Chronicle of 12 January 1849 offered the entire Birkhillside estate for sale, and this may have been the catalyst for the northern wing, courtyard outbuildings, Birkhill Cottage, and boundary wall, although the arched gateway in the boundary wall is inscribed with the date 1826, which may instead indicate the date of those later additions. The first Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1857, published 1862) shows the house almost in its current form, including the north wing, outbuildings, cottage, and boundary wall, and also indicates that there was once a small entrance porch on the south front. The corniced doorpiece around the main entrance is in a different stone from the window and door margins and is likely a later replacement for that earlier porch.

The principal (south) elevation reveals two different build phases. The earlier part is the two-storey, three-bay section to the left, with a central doorway and smaller 12-pane windows. The two-bay section to the right has the same size ground-floor windows (one of which is now a door), but taller first-floor windows that are not aligned with those of the adjacent section. It is likely this two-bay section was originally built as a single-storey wing at the same time as the original house and subsequently raised to two storeys, possibly at the same time the lower north wing was added. The attic of the east section contains a metal safe door inserted in place of a former exterior window opening, now giving access to the roof space; the original stone window surround remains visible within the roof space.

The house is rendered with stone margins throughout. The windows are predominantly timber sash and case frames with a 12-pane glazing pattern. The east gable has early 20th century window openings. Roofs are pitched and finished in a mixture of graded and non-graded slate, with stone skews and shaped skewputts to the earlier southern part of the house. Chimney stacks are of dressed sandstone and appear at both the gables and ridge. A variety of 20th century additions have been made to the rear.

The house was inspected internally in 2018. The entrance hallway has a flagstone floor and a shallow, broad curved stone stair. The cast iron balustrade features alternate foliate detailing with a mahogany handrail. The principal ground-floor room has decorative panelling around the main windows and a wide arched opening through to the early 20th century rear addition. Most windows throughout have decorative architraves and panelled timber shutters. Doors are a mixture of six- and four-panel timber throughout. The first-floor landing is large and has a window overlooking the lawn. A later timber stair leads to the second floor, with turned timber balusters. The 19th century north wing contains a large first-floor room with a combed ceiling. Simple stone fire surrounds with timber mantel shelves and round-arched cast iron inserts are found in this part of the house.

The house sits at the centre of grounds extending to approximately nine acres, comprising a formal garden immediately in front of the house and a wider former parkland area. The house occupies the highest point of the grounds, and the south elevation commands views over the former parkland, which falls away steeply to the south and west. The first edition Ordnance Survey map records a sloping, south-facing walled garden attached to the south range of outbuildings immediately east of the house; remnants of this survive in the planting, plan form, and paths, though the wall itself is no longer standing. The sunken lawn in front of the house remains. The same map records an entrance in the southwest corner of the property, with an approach drive curving around the south and east boundaries, today evidenced by a broad band of trees bordering the south of the parkland. The immediate setting of the house is considered largely unchanged from at least the mid-19th century.

To the east of the house are three ranges of single-storey, rectangular-plan outbuildings arranged around a triangular courtyard, built in random rubble. The north range shows evidence of having been raised in height by approximately a foot early in its history. Some openings across the three ranges have been enlarged and given brick surrounds, and some former openings have been infilled; these changes appear to date from the early 20th century. Some of the outbuildings were used as stables and retain timber and iron stall dividers and cast iron feeding troughs. The roofs are slated. The southern range of outbuildings is attached to the north wall of the former enclosed walled garden and has a single door giving access to the garden side; the small, rough rubble stonework of this range suggests it is of an early date and was likely built as the gardeners' outbuildings. The survival of the outbuildings as a whole is important in evidencing the development of the property during the 19th century, and the footprint of the complex has not changed significantly from that shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map.

Birkhill Cottage is a small two-storey building at the east end of the north range of outbuildings. It is built in random rubble with a slate roof. The east elevation has an irregular window pattern with four-pane timber windows. A gabled dormer window breaks the eaves line and has hung slate to its sides. There are later lean-to additions at the rear. Internally, the cottage has later four-panel timber doors and a vertically boarded timber staircase.

Running along the eastern boundary of the site is a long rubble boundary wall with a rounded cope, extending approximately 300 metres and integral with both the outbuildings and Birkhill Cottage. To the southeast of the house, the wall rises and curves to form an arched entrance gateway dated 1826, with flanking arched pedestrian entrances on either side.

The detached timber stable buildings to the north of the courtyard outbuildings are excluded from the listing under Section 1(4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997, as they are later additions not considered to be of special interest in listing terms.