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

BALMUIR, BALMUIR HOUSE, INCLUDING ADJOINING WALLED GARDENLB19027

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Group Category Details
100000020
Date Added
10/12/1991
Local Authority
Angus
Planning Authority
Angus
Parish
Mains And Strathmartine
NGR
NO 40208 34371
Coordinates
340208, 734371

Description

2- and 3-storey, irregular plan mansion house of various periods with inner courtyard and classical, Jacobean and baronial details, building history probably as follows; ealier 18th century, 3-storey, rectangualr plan house with asymmetrical single storey wings at rear, perhaps incorpporating earlier work at SW corner; NW wing raised, refaced and extended as dining room wing, and main staircase reconstructed earlier 19th century: 1st floor oriel windows added mid 19th century; variou additions by John Murray Robertson, 1892, including shaped gable pediments and angle turret to original house, ne entrance hall/billiard room/nursery wing at E (porch added circa 1897), 1st floor bedrooms at NE wing, larders and various service extensions at rear. Stugged coursers at S elevation of original building and 1892 addition, droved ashlar at NW wing, rubble at NE wing with stugged and snecked additions, original stair gable at N harled and margined, some 1892 additions at N painted brick. Grey slate roofs, piended and ogival at 1892 additions. Sash and case windows throughout, mostly plate glass glazing, 4-pane at 2nd floor of original house, 12-pane at NW wing and various ground floor windows at rear, thick astragalled 12- and multi-pane at stair gable; architraved at S elevation, shouldered at original house, mostly paired at E extension. Original house has wallhead band course, coped skews with skew blocks, end stacks. E addition has cill course at ground, 1st and 2nd floors, moulded wallhead course and weathercock at ogival roof, margined and keystoned oculus at shaped gable.

S ELEVATION: symmetrical, 3-bay earlier 18th century original house at left; keystoned shoulder-architraved doorcase at centre flanked by narrow windows, windows at left and right bays, tripartite oriels above at 1st floor, single window at centre, 3 windows at 1st floor with later sg

Statement of Special Interest

The house may have been built to supersede Claverhouse Castle, situated to the south and east. all of which has disappeared. Balmuir was owned by the Fothringhams of Powrie in the 15th century, passing to the Grahams of Meathie by the end of the 17th century. During the 18th century the Grahams, now of Balmuir adopted the surname Webster in compliance with a relative's will, and it was the Websters who sold the estate to John Sharp, flaxspinner in circa 1872. Sharp had commisioned Andrew Heiton of Perth to build Fernhall at West Ferry in circa 1866 (demolised, lodge listed at 69 Dundee Road), but engaged John Murray Robertson who had probaly worked at Heiton's office, to extend Balmuir. The attribution is stylistic, but the earlier Designs for Dining Room Chimneypieces is marked with Robertson's address and thus supports the attribution. The original house would seem to have been built by the Grahams, perhaps aggrandising the establishment by extending the NW dining room/kitchen wing following their change of name (and presumably fortune) to Webster. It was at this time that the staircase to the principal floor was probabaly moved from the staircase gable to the front hall. Included in B group with coach house/stables, dovecot, Garage Cottage, old stable and walled kitchen garden.

References

Bibliography

Document at Balmuir written by J H Sharp (grandson of John Sharp), circa 1930.

Alexander J Warden, ANGUS OR FORFARSHIRE (1881), vol II pp284-7.

Information ex Mrs J W Bentley, Balmuir.

OS maps 1858, 1900.

R Blackadder, Estate plan of Balmuir, 1872, DARC.

J Murray Robertson, Designs For Dining Room Chimneypiece at Balmuir, 1879 (unexecuted), DARC.

Graham family lineage document, MS 3566-7, National Library of Scotland.

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: 29/03/2024 06:06