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

BOWLAND HOUSE INCLUDING GARDEN COTTAGES, WALLED GARDEN AND GARAGE BLOCKLB17407

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Group Category Details
100000020 - See Notes
Date Added
22/01/1971
Local Authority
Scottish Borders
Planning Authority
Scottish Borders
Parish
Stow
NGR
NT 44672 39922
Coordinates
344672, 639922

Description

1813-15, James Gillespie Graham (with John Smith of Darnick superintending); 1890 additions to rear and SW by George Henderson; 1926 additions to NE by Rowand Anderson and Paul (see Notes). 2-storey and attic, irregular-plan, castellated Tudor-Gothic revival mansion house occupying fine hillside location. Coursed, dark brown whinstone with pale sandstone dressings. Chamfered base course; ground floor cill course; corbelled and machicolated parapet. Irregular fenestration with chamfered margins.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: SE ELEVATION (PRINCIPAL BLOCK): roughly 7-bays; castellated port-cochere to centre with turret corner angles, wide Tudor-arch openings and stepped parapet on corbelled brackets; 2-leaf timber door. Heavily machicolated tower above with large Tudor-arch window. Square corner tower to outer left with pointed-arch slit windows and corbelled bartizan. Outer bay to right flanked by turreted octagonal towers with blind-slit windows.

Further wing to right: recessed section with low string course and cill course; bipartite windows above with large quatrepartite dormer window to centre; advanced 3-storey gabled section to far right with square-plan oriel to 1st floor and Tudor-arch moulding with date panel above.

SW ELEVATION: large, leaded and traceried, pointed-arch stair window recessed to centre. Gabled section to left; large canted-bay to left with pierced parapet and mullioned and transomed 5-light window above; round-arched moulding to apex with ball and cup finial. Banded octagonal corner tower to W angle.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: roughly 10-bay with strong horizontal emphasis. Interupted string and blocking courses. Irrgular fenestration. Large Tudor-arched Venetian window to centre (kitchen). Flat-roof dormers to centre. Gable to far left mirroring opposing gable at SE elevation. Ornamental arcaded retaining wall behind with 3 recessed openings.

Wide variety of narrow stone mullioned, traceried and leaded casement windows, many with pierced decorative timber frames to principal elevation. Grey slate. Piended roofs. Groups of tall, broad octagonal and castellated stacks to ridge and wallhead. Clay cans. Garden steps from Port-Cochere to terraced lawn with paved area with cube-headed stone sundial to centre.

INTERIOR: entrance hall with ribbed plaster ceiling; principal staircase leading off; early 19th century stone fireplace, timber panelling and floor. Decorative gothic cast-iron balustrade to staircase. Library with marble chimney-piece, fitted bookshelves and cupboards and timber dado. Drawing room with moulded chimneypiece; plaster cornice. Plaster-panel walls to dining room. Predominantly marble chimneypieces to 1st floor rooms; decorative cornicing. Timber wine bins to cellar.

GARDEN COTTAGES AND WALLED GARDEN: pair of single-storey and attic, L-plan, piend-roofed cottages in symmetrical arrangement forming U-plan with cobbled courtyard to rear. Whinstone rubble with sandstone dressings. Tall tripartite pointed-arch windows to ground at gable ends. Co-axial stacks with clay cans. Large walled garden to immediate S with additional curved wall to SW. Timber-framed lean-to glass house to centre of N wall. Open on S side (orchard area).

GARAGE/FORMER STABLE: long rectangular-plan gabled building to NE of house. Roughcast stone and brick. Double garage to far right; single garage to centre with internal staircase to hayloft above; workshop/store room to lower section to far left. Diminutive pyramid-capped outbuilding to NE angle with decorative weathervane.

Statement of Special Interest

B-Group with Bowland Policies, North Lodge And Gate (see separate listing).

Bowland is a very fine early 19th Century Castellated Tudor-Gothic mansion house of substantial proportions on a prominent hill-side site incorporating several phases of construction and rebuilding. Free use is made of densely-massed Tudor-revival design elements with the consistent use of dark whinstone throughout helping to convey the sense of an homogenous whole. Its heavily machicolated parapet, squared corner tower, large mullioned Tudor-arch windows, turreted porte-cochere and fine entrance hall all contribute to its distinctive appearance.

Early records indicate that an earlier 16th Century house was built on the site by the Archbishop of St. Andrews as a hunting lodge. The house, probably is refered to as 'Bullen House' on Roy's Military Map of 1747-55, which is a verbal corruption of 'Bowland'. General Alexander Walker purchased the estate in 1809, incorporating parts of this earlier house behind the Castellated-Tudor-Gothic additions by eminent 19th Century architect James Gillespie Graham. Master mason, John Smith of Darnick, who superintended, built Abbotsford for Sir Walter Scott. The principal elevation shares a number of elements with Culdees Castle (see separate listing) in Perth and Kinross, also by Gillespie Graham. The remaining sections of the earlier house were demolished to accommodate additions to the rear by Edinburgh architect George Henderson in 1890. The central tower section and parapet conceals a large water tank on the roof.

Further additions by Rowand Anderson and Paul in 1926 include the 3-storey gable W wing with square-plan oriel window. Set within the retaining wall to the rear of the house are three carved stone slabs brought from India by General Walker. The Bowland North Lodge (circa 1818 -see separate listing) uses similar Castellated Gothic details and it is likely that Gillespie Graham or John Smith of Darnick also had a hand in its design.

List description updated as part of Stow Parish resurvey (2009).

References

Bibliography

General William Roy's Military Map (1745-77). Shown on 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853) with remains of earlier house extending to rear. J Small, Castles and Mansions of the Lothians (1883) p96. Robert Wilson, Stow of Wedale illustration (1924). Collin McWilliam, The Buildings of Scotland: Lothian (1978) p123. Bell-Ingram, Bowland Estate Sale Particulars (1984) (copy held with RCAHMS). Charles Alexander Strang, Borders and Berwick: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (1994) p194. Kitty Cruft, John Dunbar and Richard Fawcett, The Buildings of Scotland: Borders (2006), p134.

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 12:54