4-5 Kingscavil Cottages, Edinburgh Road, Linlithgow

The group comprises a symmetrical terrace of six single-storey and attic cottage-orn cottages, together with a single-storey schoolhouse, likely designed by Campbell Walker and built in 1873. They are situated on Edinburgh Road, Linlithgow.

The cottages are constructed of cream sandstone cyclopean rubble with rock-faced bands forming cill and lintel courses. Ashlar dressings are present on the principal elevations, while the rear elevation is of snecked rubble. They feature stop-chamfered reveals and stone mullions. The windows are tripartite at ground level, with bipartite windows above to the north, east, and west elevations. Squared basket-arched doorways have boarded doors and decorative wrought-iron hinges. The steep gabled roofs are covered with grey slates and fishscale bands, with deeply overhanging eaves featuring bargeboard. Tall, coped rock-faced stacks are a prominent feature. Diamond-pane leaded glazing is used in the casement windows.

The north (entrance) elevation has four recessed single-storey and attic bays at its centre, with two doors flanked by windows. Two gabled dormers are positioned above. Two M-gabled bays are advanced to the right and left, each pair containing a door towards the centre bays, with a tripartite window at ground level and a bipartite attic window above. Gabled return elevations to the left and right feature a stone canopied door at the centre, flanked by narrow windows, and a bipartite attic window. A projecting single-storey service wing extends to the south.

The south (rear) elevation shows a central bay containing two doors, flanked by projecting service wings. To the right is a bay with two doors and a service wing, mirrored on the left with the unfortunate addition of modern dormers and slates. Several modern rooflights are present.

The schoolhouse has a three-bay west (entrance) elevation, featuring a door with a timber gabled porch in the centre, flanked by tripartite windows. The north and south elevations are gabled, with a tripartite window featuring cusped lights under a steep relieving arch; the lower half has sash and case windows, and the upper half is blind and divided by a stone transom. The rear (east) elevation has a gabled projection with a tall stack near the apex and a modern, flat-roofed, harled extension. Plate glass sash and case windows are used throughout, with a leaded fleche at the centre of the roof and three modern rooflights on the east elevation.

A schoolhouse and the six cottages were first recorded in the 1873 valuation roll, with RHJ Stewart of Champfleurie House noted as the owner. Each cottage was rented at £4 per annum, and the school was run by the School Board of the Parish of Linlithgow. The front roof was re-slated around 1990 using salvaged slates from the rear. An application was submitted in late 1991 for the refurbishment of two vacant cottages.