Boundary Walls And Gatepiers, Craigielee Including Fountain, Shore Road, Strone

Craigielee, built around 1840, is one of the finest villas in Strone and showcases an early example of villa architecture that hints at the quality of later villas along the Blairmore shore. It features more variation in design than many of the villas in Kilmun and Strone. Notable original features include a belvedere tower and painted glass.

The building is asymmetrical, with three bays and two storeys, consisting of two prominent gabled blocks flanking a recessed entrance bay and a squat belvedere tower. Uniquely, Craigielee is set far back on its plot, with limited land at the rear due to a steep slope. It appears that the house was constructed in two phases, as the first edition Ordnance Survey map does not show the advancing wing on the northeast side. The left bay features a curved three-light bay window on the ground floor and a small balcony above, accessed from a two-light window with a scroll pediment. The right gabled wing has a canted two-storey bay, with timber cladding at the apex. The central roof includes a timber-clad square tower with round-headed windows and a shallow pyramidal roof.

Inside, the villa boasts a timber staircase with cast iron balusters, marble fireplaces, Baroque timber pelmets, high-quality plasterwork, and painted glass depicting scenes of Kelso Abbey and Hagia Sofia.

The exterior is primarily constructed of rubble with sandstone dressings, topped by a graded grey slate roof, stone stacks, and polygonal clay cans. The tower features timber cladding, while the windows are timber plate glass sash and case. The front door is a panelled timber design.

The long front garden includes a central three-tier stone fountain. The boundary wall is made of rubble and features square ashlar gatepiers at both the later main gate and the cast iron hand-gate.