Steading, Gartartan Home Farm

Steading, Gartartan Home Farm

A mid-19th-century farm steading built as the Home Farm of the Gartmore Estate, located on higher ground to the north of Gartartan House and northeast of Gartmore House. The farmhouse and steading were probably built at the same time, sharing similar architectural details such as rusticated hoodmoulds to windows. Originally of U-plan form with a water-powered saw mill adjoining to the north, the steading remains a working farm and has consequently been extended and altered over time. Most of the west range has been converted into cottages as of 2004. The farmhouse and steading contribute significantly to the architectural character of the Gartmore estate, representing a solidly built 19th-century home farm and saw mill constructed to serve a large estate.

The steading is roughly U-plan in composition, consisting of a fine central north range with a two-storey entrance tower topped by a slightly swept pyramid roof, flanked by two single-storey ranges to the west and east.

The north range presents a courtyard elevation on its south side. At its centre stands a tower with a segmental-arched entrance pend at ground floor, featuring a blank sandstone datestone, band course, and louvered window above. To the left is a cartshed with four segmental arches supported by painted cast-iron columns; a fifth arch has been infilled with brick as a result of the conversion of the adjoining west range into cottages and flats. Three small windows occupy the first floor (one blocked), with modern rooflights above. To the right of the central tower stands a barn with an enlarged opening to the left, a blocked doorway to the right, and three small louvered windows to the first floor.

Adjoining the north elevation of the central range is a former saw mill. The mill is single storey with various openings, though nothing of the original mill workings remain. This water-powered saw mill appears on the first and second edition Ordnance Survey maps and was fed by an aqueduct from the Gartmore Estate to the west. A narrow segmental masonry arch carried water in a cast-iron trough over the main road to the saw mill. According to the present owners in 2004, the aqueduct was destroyed in a traffic accident in the late 1970s. The National Monuments Record of Scotland holds photographs showing the aqueduct. All that remains is a large pipe protruding from above the pend on the north elevation of the entrance tower.

The west range consists of a long single-storey structure that was formerly used for stables but has been converted or is in the process of conversion into private cottages. It features various openings, including a single window in the south gable with hoodmould.

The east range is much altered, comprising byres and barns with various enlarged and blocked openings.

The central courtyard of the steading is now occupied by three substantial gabled barns.

The steading has been comprehensively altered and modernised. Some concrete byre divisions remain internally.

The building is constructed of random rubble with red sandstone quoins, margins, and rybats to openings, many of which are currently blocked up as of 2004. Some windows retain hoodmoulds. Historic Scotland photographs from the 1970s show that the steading was formerly whitewashed. The roofs are slated, asbestos, and modern corrugated pitched forms with various rooflights, the pyramid roof to the tower featuring a fine wrought-iron weathervane. The windows include a variety of timber sash and case windows and louvered openings. Doors are large metal and some timber boarded examples.