The Hardens

The Hardens is a steading dated 1866 to 1891, incorporating earlier fabric and subject to later alterations and additions. The complex comprises a rectangular, single-storey, three-bay house with an attic, a two-storey cartshed and granary running east to west to the west of the house, and a projecting two-storey barn to the north (situated on a sloping ground, single-storey to the west), all forming part of a broader east-plan court arrangement.

The house is constructed of harl-pointed whinstone and sandstone rubble with stugged ashlar and some rendered dressings. The cartshed and granary are built of harl-pointed roughly stugged sandstone with stugged-droved ashlar dressings, while the barn and further steading buildings are of whinstone rubble. The house features flushed quoins.

The south elevation of the house has a later piend-roofed glazed porch in the centre, with a panelled door and a border-glazed upper section. Timber mullioned and transomed windows are present at ground level in the flanking bays. Mullioned windows, breaking the eaves, are set within gabled dormers in the attic of the flanking bays. The north elevation is three bays wide, with a gabled projection to the left and a later lean-to addition at ground level. A further lean-to addition is slightly set back to the left, featuring a window at ground level and a modern, partly-glazed door in a re-entrant angle. A window is located on the first floor in the bay to the right. Lying-pane casement windows are found in conjunction with the mullions; four-pane timber sash and case windows feature on the east elevation. The roof is slate-covered, with pierced ornamental boarding to the gables and exposed rafters at the eaves. Brick wallhead stacks are present on the gables. The interior was not inspected in 1995.

The south elevation of the cartshed and granary has regularly disposed five bays, with glazed upper, vented lower openings at first floor level. A rectangular plaque is centrally located at ground level, inscribed "Erected by the Honourable Robt Baillie Hamilton of Langton, Tenant of Langton Lees 1869-79 and of Hardens 1866-91". The north elevation features four bays with segmentally-arched cart openings at ground level, having half-glazed, half-vented openings above. The barn, potentially a threshing and bagging barn, is situated to the northwest of the cartshed and granary at a right angle. The eaves were later raised with a course of bricks. The east elevation has seven bays, including a window to the centre, a broad opening in the bay to the inner left, arrow slits to each of the outer left bays, a door in the bay to the inner right with an opening above, breaking the eaves with a gabled dormerhead, and windows to each of the outer right bays. A further single-storey, L-plan addition extends outward to the right. The west elevation rises over higher ground and is accessed from the bank into the upper storey. A loft opening breaks the gablehead to the left.

The complex incorporates 12-pane timber sash and case windows, some with a lower sash of timber vents, as well as a slate roof. Further steading buildings, mostly dating to the 20th century, are present, although some earlier fabric remains.