2 High Cottages

A terraced row of six, two-storey, timber framed and horizontally clad former estate workers' cottages dating to the late 19th century. The row is located well above the shore in the coastal village of Strone on the Cowal peninsula with views over The Holy Loch towards Dunoon.

The cottages have overhanging eaves with decorative timber brackets, and sloping porch canopies above their doorways. The exterior timber cladding mostly consists of overlapping timber board, with one section of later tongue-and-groove timber replacement. The doors are set close together at Nos. 2 and 3 and at Nos. 4 and 5. The doors of No. 1 and No. 6 are at the outermost bays to left and right. The rear of the building has a continuous, single storey lean-to projection with an overhanging slate-roofed canopy. No. 2 has a later flat-roofed outshot above the canopy.

Most windows (formerly timber sash and case with multi-pane glazing) are later replacements with various frame patterns and are known to have been changed before the building was listed in 2006. There are some boarded timber doors to the rear. The roofs are slated. There are polychromatic brick chimney stacks, some of which have been rendered. Each cottage has a narrow and steeply rising garden plot to the rear.

The interiors of some of the cottages were seen in 2019. The stairs and halls at each property have horizontal timber boards to the lower portion of the walls. There are some timber doors and cupboard recesses. The internal doors at No. 5 have been stripped back to the wood. The fireplaces are mostly 20th century with timber or metal surrounds, with smaller fireplaces within some of the bedrooms.

Historical development

Nos.1-6 High Cottages were built in the 1870s by wealthy sugar refiner, art collector and philanthropist James Duncan of Greenock (1834–1905) who lived at Benmore House (LB95, category B). Duncan owned the estates of Bernice, Benmore and Kilmun on the North Cowal peninsula from 1870 to 1889. During this time he made a series of agricultural, industrial and architectural improvements to the estates, planting over six million trees, breeding cattle and black-faced sheep, and building a picture gallery, fernery and sawmill at Benmore. In around 1877, he began speculatively mining for silver, tin and lead in the hills above Strone (Greenock Telegraph, 1877).

The footprint of the High Cottages is shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (revised 1897). The rectangular plan-form has not changed since that date, with the steep hillside reducing the possibility of extension to the rear. Early 20th century photographs in the possession of a current owner show the building in much the same form as at present (2019).