Steading, Glen Farm, The Glen

Steading at Glen Farm, The Glen

Built circa 1854 for Sir Charles Tennant, this steading comprises a substantial rectangular-plan cartshed with adjoining store, together with a multi-bayed L-plan byre and hayloft range to the rear. The entire complex is constructed in coursed, squared and random local whinstone rubble with tabbed sandstone ashlar quoins and dressings, all featuring chamfered arrises. The buildings are finished with skew gables and moulded putts.

The principal cartshed range stands two storeys tall and eight bays wide. Its south-east elevation displays seven regularly placed segmental-headed ashlar cart arches with chamfered arrises. Above these, the upper storey features seven aligned stone wallhead dormers with projecting sills that break through the eaves and rise into stone gables with moulded putts and roll apex finials. The left return presents a blind gabled end rising into a squared gablehead stack, while the right return gable is partially concealed by a single-storey, two-bay gabled building in matching style. The rear elevation is blind at ground floor, with sparse fenestration to the upper level including a window to the left and hayloft door to the right.

The byre and hayloft range extends to the rear, presenting a two-storey configuration to the south-west courtyard elevation. This range incorporates an iron-beamed cart arch to the third bay, a pedestrian door between bays four and five, and a window between bays five and six. Remnants of a lean-to survive to the extreme left at ground floor. The upper floor contains six regular bays with doors in the third and fifth bays and windows elsewhere. Above these sits an attic storey with four timber gabled attic ventilators aligned between the lower bays, fitted with louvred fronts.

The north-west elevation is piend-roofed and features two widely spaced segmental-headed cart arches to the ground floor (now used as byres) with a pedestrian entrance to the right. The first floor comprises four bays, including a former hayloft entrance in the third bay, with windows to the remainder. The attic storey contains two timber ventilation gables with louvres (timber remains visible to the left gable) positioned between bays one and two, and bays three and four. A single-storey stone range adjoins to the far left, featuring a now-blind segmental-headed cart arch to the centre with a central window, and a much later door to the left. A later corrugated upper wall rises into a lean-to-style roof, extending down the north-east elevation and partially concealing the original byre and hayloft elevation, though timber gabled ventilators remain visible on the original roof.

Windows throughout feature 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames on the cartshed. The rear byre and hayloft range employs 6-pane glazed upper sashes with timber ventilation panels in lieu of glazing in some locations, though some windows are now missing. The cartshed is roofed in pitched slate with lead ridging, while the rear byre and hayloft ranges feature piended slate roofs, also with lead ridging and gabled timber ventilators finished in pitched slate. All rainwater goods are painted cast iron. Gablehead stacks of squared ashlar are employed, the cartshed stack carrying paired plain cans, whilst the single-storey building stack is shorter with a single octagonal can.

The steading remains in active use as a working farm. The cart arches store machinery and vehicles, with upper floors used for storage. The large rear building contains ground-floor byres fitted with timber feeding mangers, and hayloft and storage space above. Some dovecotes are housed within the timber ventilating gables of the roof.