Horsemill, Burghmuir Steading

Burghmuir Farmhouse and Steading with Horsemill

Burghmuir is a farm steading complex of late 18th to early 19th century date, comprising a threshing mill, former horsemill, long east range, and long west range with a former cottage at its northern end. A single-storey-and-attic rectangular-plan farmhouse of later 19th century date fronts the road to the north and is attached to the earlier cottage at the west range.

The later 19th century farmhouse has three evenly spaced windows on its principal north elevation. It is built in stugged and snecked sandstone rubble with rusticated quoins and window margins. It has a timber-bracketed slate roof with both eaves and gable stone stacks with corniced caps. The windows are replacement uPVC. The house links at its south to the stone-built, slate-roofed earlier 19th century cottage, forming a T-plan. The interior features a timber-boarded box bed enclosure in an attic room and a large stone range surround at ground floor level.

The west range is a linear-plan rubble-built structure attached to the rear (south) of the house and extending further southwards, stepping down in two parts. It has various openings on the east elevation facing the courtyard and an arrow slit window on the west elevation. It has a pantile roof with slate easing course and a piended roof to the south end.

The east boundary of the site is formed by a second long linear range with a pantile roof and slate easing course, a stone stack to the north gable, and a slate roof section to the south which is partly roofless. The range has an irregular pattern of small window openings to both sides and evidence of partitions and forges within the interior rooms.

A split-level rubble-built piended-roofed former threshing mill building sits on sloping ground to the southwest. The southernmost rectangular section has a decorative entrance arch to its east elevation and is roofless but complete to wall head. The stone walls of a former horsemill are set to the re-entrant angle with gearing holes in the mill wall leading to the former horsemill area.

Some sections of walls of former steadings survive to the southeast of the site.

Burghmuir is first named on William Forrest's map of 1818. The buildings are laid out in detail on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1856, published 1856). By the 2nd Edition OS map (surveyed 1895, published 1896), the buildings are shown almost in their current form with minor additions appearing on the later map (surveyed 1913, published 1915).

Burghmuir is a good example of a multi-phase farm steading dating from the late 18th century with some early surviving farm buildings within the group, including the byre and mill. The long, low byre and stable ranges are typical of farm buildings in the Lothians and remain largely unchanged in their current form. The later 19th century farmhouse, though later than much of the group, retains picturesque detailing of its period including overhanging eaves and tall shafted chimney stacks.

The mill building, which has lost the roof and gearing of its horsemill, is a rare survival within this type of site. The survival of this group of different agricultural buildings on one site is increasingly rare and contributes to the historic character and significance of the site.

The late 18th and early 19th centuries witnessed significant improvement in farming practices across Scotland as small-scale subsistence farming gave way to larger, commercial farming practices. The group of farm buildings and the farmhouse demonstrate changes in farming practice over the 18th and 19th centuries, including early mechanisation and improvement technology.

The farm occupies a prominent roadside position on the A803 to Linlithgow surrounded by large areas of farmland. The site's rural setting remains substantially unaltered since the late 19th century and helps demonstrate its agricultural function.