Shelloch, Manse Of Buchanan

Shelloch is a large white harled U-plan house built in at least two distinct phases. The original rectangular-plan building was constructed between 1760 and 1763, with west and east wings added in the mid-19th century. The house is set back from the road and fronted by a large flat garden area. To the rear stands a long single-storey range, formerly providing stabling and other outbuildings, probably dating to the late 18th century. As a manse, the building has considerable historical interest as a multi-phase structure.

The original 1760s two-storey, three-bay building forms the central focus of the front southern elevation. A central pedimented doorpiece is partially obscured by a large rustic timbered porch, a later 19th-century addition. This central section has an eaves course to both front and rear. The mid-19th-century extensions added a gabled bay to the left with a two-bay return to the west elevation, which then drops down to a single-storey piend-roofed section with narrow slit openings. Both these sections have broad sparred eaves, which were added to the original block to match the roof of the new west wing.

On the east side, an additional service wing with a lower ridge line was also added around the mid-19th century, though the difference in style suggests it was not added at the same time as the west extension. The east wing appears as a recessed gable end to the right of the front elevation, featuring a double window to the ground floor and two round-headed windows to the first floor, with a corbelled gable-end stack between. The east elevation has a gabled bay to the left, and this wing also drops down to a single-storey piend-roofed section forming the rear access, with a timber-panelled door to the north.

The rear northern elevation has the projecting stair bay of the original house at its centre, flanked by several small lean-to additions of late 18th and 19th-century date.

Interior

Several rooms retain narrow roll-moulded cornices and some original joinery. The lounge features a bolection-moulded timber chimneypiece. An impressive stone dog-leg stair with winders and an extended stone newel is a notable feature. The east kitchen wing contains a secondary stair with timber-lined walls.

Materials and Details

The house is mainly harled, with the centre section showing painted rubble to the rear. The masonry has narrow droved margins and strip quoins. Two-leaf timber-panelled storm doors front the elevation. Windows are mostly timber sash and case, with 16-pane glazing to the original block, 12-pane horizontal glazing to the west wing and some rear openings. The east wing has some non-traditional uPVC windows, with the remainder being timber sash and case including 10-pane round-headed windows. Pitched roofs with graded slate predominate except where noted above. A coped ridge stack stands to the west of the original block, a wallhead stack to the west elevation, a corbelled-out gable-end stack with triple brick cope to the south gable of the east wing, and a wallhead stack to the former dairy. Rainwater goods are mainly cast iron, with a mix of octagonal cans for venting.

Outbuilding

Situated directly to the rear of the house is a long rectangular range with pitched graded slate roof to the south, possibly raised slightly in the past. Built of random rubble with roughly squared margins and quoins, the south elevation has five door openings, at least two of which have been enlarged from their original forms.

Gatepiers

At the foot of the west access drive stand square-plan rendered gatepiers, each bearing a decorative painted plaque with the name of the house.