South Valve House

South Valve House is a valve house built around 1820 by engineer Hugh Baird, while the North Valve House was constructed between 1842 and 1849 by engineer James Jardine and surveyor James Horne. These two nearly identical valve houses have simple rectangular plans, with the south one referred to as the winter house and the north as the summer house. They are part of the Union Canal feeder system, situated above a watercourse tunnel on sloping ground below the Cobbinshaw Reservoir, which supplies water to the Bog Burn and other streams before it reaches the River Almond and subsequently the Union Canal.

The buildings feature long and short quoins, with the north house constructed from stugged squared rubble ashlar and the south house made of droved ashlar. Both houses have timber doors fitted with ventilation grills. Inside, the valve houses have barrel vaulted interiors and contain cast-iron machinery for operating the valves. The pitched roofs are finished with non-traditional materials. To the east of the valve houses, the watercourse is cobbled and bordered by ashlar walls with slab copes.