Steading And Stable Block, Finnich Malise

Steading And Stable Block, Finnich Malise

An early 19th-century courtyard steading and stable block of classical design. The complex comprises a rectangular-plan arrangement with offices to the north, stables and hayloft to the south, cartsheds to the west, and a circular-plan horse engine house to the south-west. The buildings are constructed of coursed red sandstone rubble with lightly droved ashlar dressings, featuring a base course to the original sections. The eaves are finished with a projecting cornice and band that continues across the gables of the principal north and west elevations to create a pediment-like appearance. Vertical margins and stugged long and shorts are employed at arrises, and all architraved openings are likewise finished with stugged long and shorts. The gables are coped.

The north elevation is symmetrical and comprises a single storey and attic main block with five bays and a single storey bay to the left. A block-finalled pedimented breaking-eaves ashlar entrancepiece marks the centre, with a flat-headed entrance recessed within two round arches and a continuous impost band. Windows serve each floor in the flanking paired bays, and a window to the single storey bay is set back to the left.

The west elevation is symmetrical, with a single storey section adjoining a single storey and attic main block. The horse engine is positioned set back to the outer right. A block-finalled pedimented breaking-eaves ashlar entrancepiece occupies the centre, with a flat-headed entrance pend recessed within a round arch with impost bands. Two single storey bays flank either side with windows to each. Slightly projecting two-storey outer flanking gabled bays, each with a block finial, have windows to each floor; those at ground level are set within segmental-headed recesses with cills continued across, whilst those at first floor are round-arched. The horse engine is finished with a conical roof.

The south elevation shows a single storey and attic main block with a single storey bay to the right. Two attic windows with louvred vents serve the hayloft to the right of the main block, with an inserted opening below. The conical-roofed horse engine projects to the left; four regularly-spaced entrances are cut into the elevation, two of which are now blocked, one incorporating a gabled slated loading door above.

The east elevation is single storey and was formerly open to the centre; a taller twentieth-century gabled block has been inserted at centre with a small gabled addition to the left. Gabled outer flanking bays terminate the elevation, with a window to that on the left.

Within the courtyard, boarded timber replacement doors with glazed upper panels serve the entrances, some missing or damaged. The north side contains three entrances to the offices; that to the left is blocked with a blocked opening above. The west side comprises seven bays with a breaking-eaves gable and attic window to the centre; a segmental-arched pend sits below, flanked by triple segmental-headed bays serving the cartsheds. Those bays to the left are furnished with part-glazed boarded timber folding and two-leaf doors with fanlights; those to the right have two-leaf boarded timber doors to slightly recessed flat-headed openings. A standard pedestrian entrance is recessed slightly to the outer right bay. The south side contains a two-bay stable section to the left with an entrance to the right and windows; the hayloft above each bay has a window with louvred vent. A large inserted entrance with folding timber door beneath a concrete beam occupies the right. The east side features a twentieth-century gabled block (byre) at centre with two entrances and a window to the gable; flanking lower-height single storey ranges include a four-bay section to the right with an entrance to each bay, and a three-bay section to the left with a central window and flanking entrances.

Windows are twelve-pane timber sash and case throughout. The roof is grey slate, partially replaced on the north and south ranges with corrugated asbestos. A pair of tall later stacks rises from the east elevation, one brick with band course and one coped stone projecting from the external wall.

The interior holds little of architectural interest. The north (office) range has been substantially altered. Some later loose boxes remain within the south (stables) range.

The building is listed as part of a group that includes Finnich Malise, Entrance Lodge and Gateway and Walled Garden. It forms a handsome classical stable block and steading. It appears with the horse engine house but with most of the east elevation open on the 1865 Ordnance Survey map. The steading was probably built sometime after the property passed from the Stewart family to William Leckie in 1806, though stylistic differences suggest it was not built at exactly the same time as the main house itself.