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

SPOTT HOUSE WITH BOUNDARY WALLS, PIERS, "CHAPEL" AND GAME LARDERLB14784

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
05/02/1971
Local Authority
East Lothian
Planning Authority
East Lothian
Parish
Spott
NGR
NT 67906 75287
Coordinates
367906, 675287

Description

William Burn, 1830, remodelling of earlier tower house to give substantial Baronial mansion. 2- and 3-storey with basement

and attic. Surrounding burn regularised to form pseudo-moat,

and oversailed by arched culvert in 1830 at W. Variety of squared

and snecked pink sandstone with grey ashlar dressings.

Crowstepped gables.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: in 2 blocks, 3, 3-storey

crowstepped bays to right raised on earlier foundations.

Jacobean doorway with strapworked pilasters and pediment

obelisk finials; regular fenestration. Turret corbelled

from 1st floor level, in re-entrant angle with left block rising

above wallhead with candle snuffer roof. Left block of 2,

2-storey bays slightly advanced scrolled pedimented heads to

1st floor windows.

E ELEVATION: set at obtuse angle about stair turret at centre

irregular openings. 3-storey range to left with pedimented

dormerheads to 2nd floor windows flanking wide wallhead stack.

2-storey and basement range to right with varied openings.

S ELEVATION: 2 wide, 3-storey bays; left bay crowstepped gabled

with attic window, right bay with inserted tripartite French

windows with flight of semi-circular steps; pedimented

dormerhead to 2nd floor window.

N ELEVATION: irregular arrangement; gabled bay advanced to outer

left with projecting stack, circular tower at centre set deeply

into wall, flanked to outer right by full-height canted bay with tripartite windows at centre to each floor.

12-pane glazing pattern to sash and case windows, some small-pane

Grey slates to gabled and candlesnuffer tower roofs; tall,

copied diamond stacks, set on ashlar bases, linked and

clustered.

INTERIOR: cellar below basement awaits excavation to determine

more about earlier house. Basement, with walls 12' thick,

includes vaulted bake-house with segmentally arched ovens and

flagged floor. Under W drive, linked to house, lies a former

prison, beside boiler house. 17th century newel stair. Burn's

work in upper stages includes Jacobean panelling in hall, and

timber stair, decorative plasterwork, plain chimneypieces.

BOUNDARY WALLS: rubble boundary walls with squat piers,

pyramid capped.

"CHAPEL": small gabled building set on steeply falling ground to

S of house, possibly associated with earlier house; rubble

sandstone with slate roof, entered by doorway on N side; window

in E gable. Serving as outbuilding, adjoined to boundary walls

by walled area on steep ground to S.

GAME LARDER: 2-stage, square building of circa 1830, in

red rubble, sneck harled, set in slope with door to upper

floor at E, louvred bipartite to N side; timber brackets to

overhanging eaves of grey slated swept roof, louvred ventilator

at apex.

Statement of Special Interest

The title deeds suggest that some building was on the site of

Spott House from 1295. The fortified house which Burn rebuilt,

appears to have been present by 1650, in the hands of the Hays,

when legend has it that Colonel Leslie stayed at the house on

the night before the Battle of Dunbar, and Cromwell on the

following night! Burn was commissioned by James Sprott,

who had just bought the earlier property, and his design was contemporary with his work at Tyninghame House; James Dorward

of Haddington was the builder. Burn almost certainly landscaped

the area with the avenue of trees; the house was sited for a

spectacular view. By the Larder and "Chapel" are 2 more ruinous buildings, one a roofless former house, the other a small

square piend-roofed larder. The Lodge, stable court, kennels

and Home Farm lie to S, and are listed separately.

References

Bibliography

J Martine REMINISCENCES OF EAST LOTHIAN (1894) p87. PROCEEDINGS

OF BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS 1880, p216. C McWilliam LOTHIAN

(1978) p439. Groome's GAZETTEER Vol.vi p371.

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 22:22