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

COSTERTON, FORMER COSTERTON HOUSE ICEHOUSELB47757

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Group Category Details
100000020 - see notes
Date Added
22/03/2001
Local Authority
Midlothian
Planning Authority
Midlothian
Parish
Crichton
NGR
NT 43603 63332
Coordinates
343603, 663332

Description

Mid 18th century. Cap and dome icehouse. Ogee entrance and arched passageway, leading to top-loading domed ice chamber. Ashlar, long and short rybats with margins; squared rubble interior, part lime rendered and whitewashed.

N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: entrance doorway: ashlar lintel, long and short quoins; harled coursed rubble, ogee shaped wing walls, left wall full size, right wall sunk into natural hillside; stone step into entrance passage.

INTERIOR: exterior doorway, high arched entrance passageway, lime harled and limewashed; leading to smaller rectangular doorway, cut to house an inset door; smaller narrow rectangular passage; further doorway leading to domed ice chamber: exposed squared rubble circular dome with central square top-loading flue, later metal ventilator pipe to rear wall, inset stones (to hold shelves) regularly placed around walls; dirt and rubble in-filling original floor level and central drain. Formerly 3 doors, now all missing.

EXTERIOR: on mound: square tooled ashlar top-loading flue, copes disarrayed; round metal ventilating flue to rear.

Statement of Special Interest

B-Group with Costerton Dovecot and Walled Garden. Inset into a natural riverbank, the icehouse has remained undiscovered for decades. Icehouses were generally built near to a source of ice, in this case the Blackhouse Burn. As with most icehouses of the 18th century, it is plain and faces north. It is sited near to the top of the bank to facilitate drainage. It is one of the few surviving structures linked to Costerton House, a rebuilt mansion on the site of an earlier house. The icehouse is of a type found in the Lothians, and this is a well-preserved example. Foodstuffs were placed on a straw floor over the packed ice. It has whitewash on its passageway, indicating a change of use to meat/game store in the mid-19th century. It still has its ashlar top-loader leading directly into the chamber, used as an easier way to fill the house rather than venture down the riverbank.

References

Bibliography

T Buxbaum, SCOTTISH GARDEN BUILDINGS - FROM FOOD TO FOLLY (1989) pp 106-111; S Beamon & S Roaf, THE ICEHOUSES OF BRITAIN (1990) pp 85, 93, 116.

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 09:00