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Summary

Description

Dated 1834. Fine planned 7-bay, 4-sided courtyard steading. Roughly squared and snecked rubble with ashlar dressings, some droved. Voussoirs; keystones; segmental- and round-headed openings.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical. Slightly advanced gabled bay to centre with broad keystoned segmental arch leading to courtyard, keystoned round-headed opening above with ropework-moulded dated stone in finialled gablehead. Segmental arches to flanking bays with door and flanking small openings beyond, and 3 regularly-disposed granary openings above.

SW ELEVATION: long range to right with door and granary opening to outer right, all other openings blocked. Advanced bay to left with altered almost full-height opening, row of 3 cart arches on return (that to left blocked) with 3 further openings above.

NW ELEVATION: long range with variety of openings to ground and at granary level.

NE ELEVATION: full-height opening under piended roof to outer right.

COURTYARD ELEVATIONS:

NE RANGE: SW ELEVATION: 5 segmental-headed cart arches each with granary opening above, pedestrian door to outer left.

SW RANGE: NE ELEVATION: 2 pedestrian doors to centre, remaining openings blocked at both levels.

SE RANGE: NW ELEVATION: cart arch partly blocked with brick and adjoining later covered pedestrian walkway bisecting courtyard. Bays to left with door and louvered opening above and similar smaller opening to right at ground. Further square window high up in bay to right.

Window and granary openings to principal elevation blocked with timber. Grey slates; corrugated to SW elevation of NE range. Ashlar-coped skews with flat skewputts to SE.

BOUNDARY WALLS: coped rubble boundary walls incorporating pyramidally-coped square-section ashlar gatepiers to W.

Statement of Special Interest

Group with Muirhouses Farmhouse. Unusual steading layout formerly with conical roofed horsemill situated within the courtyard and range of 5 cart arches also facing inwards. Scott Morton confirms the rarity of dated steadings, and mentions buildings of a 'consciously formal character' which is certainly the case with Muirhouses. During the twelfth century the lands of 'Muirhvs' belonged to Cupar Abbey, and a fifteenth century rental book notes that "Mwrhus is let to the indwellers thereof for 7 years with the teind sheaves for 10 merks, 20 bolls corn, and 24 hens". Formerly with adjoining orchard, still known as 'Priestlands', Muirhouses was tenanted by the Jackson family for some 200 years, finally passing to George Hay in 1736. Mrs Hay-Neave sold the property to John Doe during WWI and it remains in the family today (2000). At commencement of WWII much of the surrounding land was commissioned for an aerodrome, the present owner's father purchased much land back in 1960 but with changes to the original marches.

References

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