Steading (South Range), Carstairs Mains

This is a steading complex, designed by William Burn in 1825. It originally comprised four ranges of buildings arranged around a square courtyard, with a farmhouse attached to the south. The westernmost steading range has been demolished, but otherwise the complex remains largely unaltered externally.

The steading is constructed of stugged ashlar with droved and broached dressings, and has piended slate roofs. The north range is a two-storey, near-symmetrical elevation facing the courtyard, with ten bays. It features a central pediment bearing a clock face within its tympanum and a bellcote at the apex. Stabling occupies the outer bays, with four cart arches in the centre. The stables include cast-iron columns to the stalls. A loft above has regularly placed rectangular windows with the original three-pane glazing arrangement in sash windows, and a timber sliding ventilator grille to the lower part.

The east range is two-storeys high with seven bays, and features wide, opposing doors at the north end; it may have been a threshing barn. Most internal divisions were removed in 1989, and the openings generally remain unaltered.

The south range is single-storey and eight bays wide, with a stack located at the western end. It likely served as a dairy, calf-houses, and feed stores. A doorway has been widened to the east, and the east half of the roof has been replaced with corrugated sheet metal.

The farmhouse, adjoining the south range by a passage, is a two-storey, L-plan building with a narrow, lean-to porch to the southwest re-entrant corner, supported by a single Doric column. It has gabled ends with canted bay windows on the ground floor, and otherwise single-light windows with hood mouldings above the lower sashes. All windows have been re-glazed with modern plate glass. A flat-roofed dormer has been added over the porch. Original end coped skews with skew blocks remain, along with tall diamond stacks, which are now only visible on the north side. The farmhouse has slate roofs.

While the demolition of the west range has altered the overall appearance, the steading complex remains largely intact externally. The farmhouse has been affected by the removal of stacks and the replacement of windows, but still forms an important part of the composition. Plans by Burn for the steading are held in the National Monuments Record of Scotland.