The Old Bakery, Kirkgate, Chirnside

The Old Bakery, Kirkgate, Chirnside

A complex of buildings of later to late 18th-century date with subsequent additions and alterations, arranged around a sloping site.

The main house is a symmetrical 2-storey, 3-bay dwelling constructed in harl-pointed red rubble sandstone with rubble dressings and projecting cills throughout. A full-height gabled addition extends to the north-west in red brick, while single-storey lean-to glazed additions project to the west and south-east. The south (entrance) elevation features a centred timber panelled door with plate glass fanlight at ground level, a single window above, and single windows at both floors in the flanking bays. A recessed lean-to glazed addition occupies the outer left, with a further narrow window in a recessed lean-to addition to the outer right. The west (side) elevation displays a gabled block to the right with a small offset attic light, and a full-height wing to the left with a projecting lean-to glazed addition and an offset first-floor window. The east (side) elevation shows a gabled block with a single window in a lean-to projection offset to the right of centre. The north (rear) elevation was not inspected in 1998.

Plate glass and 4-pane glazing appear in timber sash and case windows, with 6-pane timber casements to the attic. The roof is covered in grey slate with stone-coped skews and corniced brick-built apex stacks to east and west, topped by various circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods are in place.

Adjoining the house to the north-east is a single-storey with attic, 4-bay former bakery building set on the sloping site. This structure is constructed in heavily-pointed rubble sandstone, with squared and tooled cream sandstone rubble to parts of the upper floor, and long and short red rubble dressings at ground with cream dressings above. The east (entrance) elevation contains a boarded timber door at ground in an outer-left bay with letterbox fanlight, a boarded window opening in the adjacent bay to the right, and a gabled boarded timber door breaking the eaves above. A small boarded window opening is offset to the right of centre, with a large sliding timber door in an outer-right bay. The north (side) elevation displays a boarded opening centred at upper level with timber lintel, surmounted by an arched flight hole with projecting sandstone ledge. The west (rear) elevation was not seen in 1998.

The interior of the bakery retains some early ovens, including one stamped 'James Cruickshank & Co., Edinburgh', featuring fluted pilasters, a segmental-arched pediment with segmental-arched door in a chamfered recess, a thermometer to the side, and a shallow-domed chamber within. Open timber ceiling is present. Openings throughout are boarded, the roof is grey slate with sandstone ridging and stone-coped skews, and iron rainwater goods are fitted.

To the south stands a single-storey ancillary structure with attic and piended grey slate roof, constructed in red brick, partly whitewashed to the west. The south (entrance) elevation, which is 2-bay, features a gabled part-glazed boarded timber door breaking the eaves, offset to the left of centre, a 2-leaf boarded timber garage door at ground in the outer-left bay, and a single window at ground in the outer-right bay. The west (side) elevation is blind. Iron rainwater goods are present. The interior was not inspected in 1998.

The site is partially enclosed by rubble boundary walls with hooped railings and a round-arched hooped iron pedestrian gate to the south-west, with a further pedestrian gate to the east.