St Mary's Cottage, Duns Castle Estate

Earlier 19th century with later alterations. Irregularly-planned (basically L-planned) 2-storey cottage style house. Whinstone with droved ashlar dressings; rubble and whinstone with sandstone dressings to rear. Base course. Flush sandstone quoins. Chamfered arrises to window surrounds.

SW ELEVATION: 5 bays; 3-bay group to centre advanced with blank whinstone flanking bays. Eaves lowered to single storey level to centre 3 bays. Doric colonnaded recess to centre with timber lintel and columns. Flush-9-panelled door with diamond-paned rectangular fanlight above. Timber mullion and transommed windows with canopy to flanking bays.

NW ELEVATION: 3-bay to main house (rear of NE projecting range, set back bays to outer left). Bay to right advanced. Timber mullioned and transomed window at ground to centre with relieving arch above. Piended dormer breaking eaves above at 1st floor. Timber mullioned and transomed window at ground in bay to left with relieving arch above; timber mullioned window at 1st floor. Timber transomed and mullioned window at ground of bay to right; timber mullioned window at 1st floor above.

SE ELEVATION: 4-bay. Single storey bay to penultimate left with later bay and blocked square panel.. Canted window at ground to gabled bay to outer left with timber mullioned window at 1st floor above. Bays to inner and outer right of later period from those to left (rubble and whinstone, not whinstone). Timber mullioned window at ground and 1st floor of each bay.

RETURN (NE) ELEVATION: boarded door with 3-pane rectangular fanlight above to left. Window in bay to right.

SE ELEVATION OF NE-PROJECTING RANGE: 4-bay, irregularly disposed. Timber boarded porch with entrance to return SW elevation, bargeboard to NE gable, window to immediate left. Window to outer left with off-line bipartite window breaking eaves with piended roof. Boarded door in bay to inner right with window to immediate right; window at 1st floor above breaking eaves and piended. Window breaking eaves and piend-roofed in bay to outer right; buttress to outer right. Later garage, slightly set back, with boarded sliding doors.

Variety of windows with diamond-paned timber casement windows to SW, NW, and SE elevation (leaded lights to 1st floor windows of SE elevation); 8-pane timber sash and case windows to NE return elevation, and SE elevation of NE projecting range. Complex roof arrangement; slated with jerkin-head roof to outer bays of NW elevation, and in bay to left of SE elevation. Inverted U-shaped dormer with diamond-paned casement window to centre of SW elevation; modern single pane rooflight to NE projecting range; 2-pane rooflight to centre of garage.

INTERIOR: shutters and cornice in place; black marble chimneypiece, picture rail to drawing room. Cast-iron banister with timber rail, dado to staircase.

SUNDIAL: later ashlar circular-based sundial with circular shaft and upper plate; positioned to SW of house.