Courtyard Outbuildings at Birkhill House

Birkhill House is a former laird's house of mid-18th century origin, extended and developed through the 19th century, and possibly containing fabric that pre-dates 1700. 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 was recorded continuously until 1689, when Birkenside passed to the Shillinglaw family. The property appears on Armstrong's Map of 1771 as "Birkhillside", and the Old Statistical Account of 1795 records Major Shillinglaw of Birkhillside as the sole hereditary proprietor in Legerwood Parish, suggesting the house was in existence by the mid-18th century or earlier.

The house itself has an unusual V-shaped plan resulting from building in several phases. The principal south-facing elevation is five bays wide and two storeys tall, rectangular in plan and one room deep — a layout characteristic of the laird's house type. The windows are small, set well below the eaves, and the walls are thick, both features pointing to an early date. Unusually, the distance between the tops of the first-floor windows and the eaves is considerable; 18th-century three-bay houses more typically have first-floor windows abutting the eaves, and this height may indicate a building of higher status. The main entrance has a corniced stone doorpiece, though this is in a different stone to the window and door margins and is likely a later replacement for an earlier porch recorded on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1857, published 1862).

The principal south section itself appears to be of two builds. The earlier part is the two-storey three-bay section to the left, with a central doorway and 12-pane windows. The two-bay section to the right has matching ground-floor windows (one of which is now a door) but taller first-floor windows that do not align with those of the three-bay section, suggesting it was originally built as a single-storey wing and later raised to two storeys, possibly at the same time the lower northern wing was added. The 'Borders and Berwick: An Illustrated Architectural Guide' describes the house as 18th century, extended eastwards around 1850. A sale advertisement in the Kelso Chronicle of 12 January 1849 may have been the catalyst for the addition of the lower northern wing and the courtyard outbuildings, though the arched gateway in the boundary wall is inscribed with the date 1826, which may indicate an earlier phase of development.

The house is rendered with stone margins throughout. Roofs are pitched and covered in a mixture of graded and ungraded slate, with stone skews and shaped skewputts to the earlier southern part of the house. The chimney stacks are dressed sandstone, appearing at both the gables and the ridge. The windows are predominantly timber sash and case frames with a 12-pane glazing pattern. The east gable has window openings dating from the earlier 20th century, and there are various 20th-century additions to the rear of the house.

The interior was inspected in 2018. The entrance hallway has a flagstone floor and a shallow 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 leading to the earlier 20th-century addition at the rear. Most windows retain decorative architraves and panelled timber shutters, and there is a mixture of six- and four-panel timber doors throughout. The first-floor landing is large and has a window overlooking the lawn. A later timber stair rises to the second floor, with turned timber balusters. In the eastern part of the attic, a metal safe door has been inserted in place of a window opening — the former exterior stone window surround remains visible in the roof space, providing evidence of the building's earlier form. The 19th-century northern wing contains a large first-floor room with a combed ceiling. This part of the house has simple stone fire surrounds with timber mantel shelves and round-arched cast-iron inserts.

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 stonework of the northern range shows it was raised by approximately one foot in height early in its history. Some openings across the three ranges have been enlarged and faced with brick, and former openings have been infilled; these alterations appear to date from the earlier 20th century and do not significantly detract from the outbuildings' interest or authenticity. 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, with a single door connecting to the garden side; the small rubble stonework of this range suggests it is of an early date and was likely built as the gardener's outbuildings.

At the eastern end of the northern range of outbuildings stands Birkhill Cottage, a small two-storey building constructed 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, with 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.

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

Birkhill 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 is positioned at the highest point of the grounds, with the south elevation commanding views over the former parkland, which falls away steeply to both south and west. The 1st edition Ordnance Survey map records a sloping, south-facing walled garden attached to the south range of outbuildings, immediately east of the house; remnants survive in the planting, plan form and paths, though the wall itself is no longer extant. The sunken lawn in front of the house also survives. The same map shows that the original entrance was in the southwest corner of the property, with an approach drive curving around the south and east boundaries; this is evidenced today by a broad band of trees bordering the south of the parkland. The immediate setting of the house is largely unchanged from at least the mid-19th century, and possibly earlier.

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 considered later additions of no special interest in listing terms.