Stuartslaw

Stuartslaw

A steading dated 1858 with later additions and alterations, sited on sloping land falling to the north. The complex comprises a cartshed, granary and stables arranged around a central courtyard. The buildings are constructed in harl-pointed stugged sandstone ashlar with droved ashlar dressings and are distinguished by crowstepped gables and castellated screenwalls that flank the centre of the ranges running north-south.

The south range fronting the centre features a nine-bay elevation grouped as 1-4-1-3. A single slightly advanced gabled bay occupies the centre, flanked by equal-length groups of four and three bays, with a further gabled bay to the outer left. The central advanced gabled bay contains a segmental-arched opening to the left at ground level with a two-leaf boarded door, a partly-glazed and partly-boarded window opening to the right at ground level and above at gablehead. An ashlar carved plaque set into the gablehead records: "1858; RF to 1882; FWF to 1884; RJF to 1950; RF to 1986". The four-bay group to the left has segmental-arched cart openings at ground level with glazed and vented openings above at first-floor level (except to the inner right bay). The three-bay group to the right contains glazed and vented window openings at each floor level. Each flanking bay has a boarded door (narrower in the left flanking bay). A single-storey single bay to the outer left has a boarded door with timber lintel and a glazed and boarded window opening to its right. The north elevation shows a rubble wall set back from the main range with a rubble-surrounded round hole to the left of the ridge-line and a castellated wallhead. A slate roof with a round-plan ornamental ridge vent sits above the outer right of the three-bay group. To the north, two cattle courts project forward, each with a timber lintel spanning a double-door opening to the centre, with a further door to the outer right of the left projection. Both courts have rounded corners to the northeast and northwest, and are covered with modern corrugated roofing following the line of the original curved gablehead.

The east range is single-storey and gabled. Its south elevation contains a two-leaf sliding boarded door and is flanked by a castellated screenwall set back at the point marking a change in ridge height, featuring round openings either side of the ridge-line. The west elevation is six bays, with a three-bay group to the right containing a glazed and vented window opening flanking a split boarded door at the centre. A split boarded door occupies the bay to the inner left, a boarded door the penultimate left bay, and a sliding boarded double door the outer left bay. A modern cattle shed adjoins the north end of this elevation. The east elevation comprises a single-storey lean-to half-slated addition to the right of the south (lower-ridged) part of the range, with a boarded door to the south return, and a modern window in the bay to the outer left of the higher-ridged north section (remaining bays were not inspected in 1996). The slate roof features a two-pane rooflight to the east of the lower-ridged section and two cat-slide vents close to the ridge to the west, with one to the east.

The west range, possibly a former bagging and grain-storage barn, has a gabled south elevation that advances from the line of the south range. A boarded door to the left is flanked by a blinded long opening to the gablehead. A linking barn set back to the east connects the outer left of the south range with the west range and has a boarded door to its left. The west elevation is four bays, grouped as 1-3, with a gabled barn to the outer left (possibly a former threshing barn) containing a double-door opening, and vented openings near the eaves of each bay to the right, with a glazed and boarded window opening at ground to the outer left. The east elevation groups to the left with a boarded door at the centre flanked by windows (the left one blinded). The north elevation is much altered; the masonry shows indication of a flue to the west, possibly suggesting the presence of a former stack. A slate roof covers this range, with a two-pane flush 19th-century rooflight to the west.