Ferndale, Main Street, Carlops

Built around 1785, Ferndale comprises a row of six single-storey, three-bay weavers’ cottages. Three of the cottages have gabled timber porches. The cottages are constructed of harled rubble with freestone dressings, and some of the window openings have been enlarged. A canted bay addition is present on the far left (Birkenbush). Various rendered brick, stone, and timber single-storey additions and dormers have been added to the rear, predominantly in the late 20th century.

The windows are timber sash and case, displaying a variety of 19th-century traditional glazing patterns. The roof is covered with grey slate, and there are ridge stacks with clay cans, alongside cast-iron rainwater goods.

Internally, the cottages are broadly characterised by their original layout: a kitchen and former workroom flank a through-passage that opens off the front door. Original partition walls in some cottages are constructed from solid timber frames with rubble infill. Ground floor rooms originally contained box beds and wide lintelled sandstone fireplaces with rounded corbels in the kitchen fireplaces, although none of these features survive now.

Ferndale is part of a larger group of buildings that includes a row of six cottages (Ferndale, Houlet, Amulree, Finlaggan, Blinkieknowe, Birkenbush), a row of three cottages (Ashley, The Biggin, Weavers), Carlops Church, Pentland and Elphinstone, Allan Ramsay Hotel, and a row of four cottages (Springbank, Carberry, Langskaill, Jess).

The cottages represent a good example of their type, built to house cotton-weavers. They retain their original scale, massing, and traditional window glazing patterns, and contribute significantly to the character of Carlops village, which is largely defined by this building type. The village was established in 1784 by Robert Brown of Newhall, who laid out linear rows of cottages along the Edinburgh to Biggar road. Following the decline of the textile industry in the late 19th century, Carlops became a health resort for visitors from Edinburgh and remains a popular destination for walkers and visitors to Pentland Hill.