Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

CROOKSTON HOUSE INCLUDING GATES, GATEPIERS AND QUADRANT WALLSLB13895

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Group Category Details
100000020 - See Notes
Date Added
07/11/2007
Local Authority
Scottish Borders
Planning Authority
Scottish Borders
Parish
Stow
NGR
NT 42563 51612
Coordinates
342563, 651612

Description

1815-17; enlarged and remodelled in Jacobean style by Brown & Wardrop, 1860-64; alterations by Thomas McCrae, 1937-8. 2-storey, attic and basement with ground falling away to rear, roughly 5-bay, irregular-plan country house with large curvilinear dormer gables, corner turrets and range of single-storey ancillary buildings adjoining rear. Squared, coursed, bull-faced grey whinstone with polished yellow sandstone ashlar dressings. Band courses to each floor; eaves cornice; coped, finialled curvilinear gables linked by balustraded parapet. Regular fenestration with tabbed margins and projecting cills; rusticated long and short quoins; 2-storey circular flat-roofed corner turrets corbelled out at 1st floor (see Notes).

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 5 bays, symmetrical. Deep central porch with ball-finialled, balustraded parapet; 3 stone steps to single-leaf timber-panelled door with rectangular light above in advanced architrave with open pediment enclosing date 1864 and Clan Borthwick crest bearing the motto 'QUI CONDUCIT'. Regular fenestration with central gable-headed dormer flanked by 2 curvilinear gables. W ELEVATION with single-storey stone-mullioned canted window and 3-bay round-arched timber conservatory in re-entrant angle of advanced wing to left. 2 gabled wings to N (rear) ELEVATION flanking central service courtyard/lightwell with crenellated screen wall and 5-storey square-plan tower. Wing to right with corner turrets and truncated gablehead stack; wing to left with prominent gablehead stack. Long elevation of single-storey ancillary range extending to left.

Predominantly 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows, plate glass to principal floor; 4-pane glazing to attic. Prominent, corniced ashlar stacks with buff clay cans. Grey slate roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods with hoppers.

BALUSTRADING, GARDEN TERRACES AND FORMER BALLROOM: low area walls extending from each side of porch, and turning around side elevations with balustraded sections and ball finials at corners. Terraced garden within truncated walls of former ballroom to W of house. Garden terrace in front of house with carved ornamental birdbath.

INTERIOR: stone steps within front porch leading to central hall; timber scale and platt staircase with closed-string timber balustrade and square panelled newels supporting carved urns, installed in the 1930s; round-arched stained-glass stair window; marble chimneypieces and decorative plasterwork ceilings to principal rooms; working timber shutters in some rooms.

GATES, GATEPIERS AND QUADRANT WALLS: dated 1871. 4 rusticated gatepiers with ornamental iron gates and coped quadrant wing walls. Tall piers flanking carriageway; lower plainer piers to foot gates. Polished sandstone ashlar. Base course; double string course; pyramidal caps. Central piers surmounted by sculpted angels with shields on dated and initialled, corniced plinths (see Notes). Decorative, cast-iron finialled gates; decorative floreate scrolls over pedestrian gates.

Statement of Special Interest

B-Group with 'Crookston House, South Gate Lodge' and 'Crookston House, Former Stables Including Boundary Wall' (see separate listings).

A well-detailed Jacobethan-Style Country House, Built For John Borthwick, 13th Of Crookston, and substantially remodelled and extended by the prominent Edinburgh architectural firm Wardrop & Brown, with good interiors. The original house formed the central 5-bay section visible from the front. The Brown & Wardrop work included the baronialisation and extension of the house, the corner turrets of which were originally ogee-roofed and later crenellated; and the addition of the ballroom, now largely demolished after being damaged by bombing in the Second World War.

The firm of Brown & Wardrop was formed when Thomas Brown II, who is thought to have trained in the office of William Burn, took his former apprentice and assistant James Maitland Wardrop into partnership in 1849. The practice was a prominent and wide-ranging one which developed a particular reputation for remodelling and enlarging older houses in a range of styles. The house remains in the possession of the Borthwick family, who were recognised as Borthwicks of Borthwick in 1944.

The imposing South entrance gatepiers incorporating shields held by angels are heraldic, one being inscribed JB (John Borthwick), the other EP (Elizabeth Pringle).

List description updated at resurvey (2009).

References

Bibliography

Francis H Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1883), vol II, p.312. Kitty Cruft, John Dunbar and Richard Fawcett, The Buildings of Scotland: Borders (2006) pp203-4. Colin McWilliam, The Buildings of Scotland: Lothian (1978) p148. J Small, Castles and Mansions of the Lothians (1883). Charles Alexander Strang, Borders and Berwick: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (1994) p193. RCAHMS: MLD 140/1-5 (plans by Thomas McCrae for 1937-8 alterations). Dick Peddie & McKay Collection, RCAHMS: DPM/1940/98/1-5 (plans for alterations in 1863-70 and 1937-46).

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 18:35