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Summary

Description

Andrew Heiton Junior, circa 1860-1870. Large 2-storey courtyard plan Italianate villa with 3-stage square tower. Coursed droved sandstone ashlar with raised quoins. Base course, band course, advanced gables, overhanging eaves, classical detailing. Variety of window openings, bipartite, tripartite, some keystoned segmental arches to 1st floor, canted bay, and square bay.

WEST (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 5-bay with near-central advanced entrance tower with round-arched 4-panel timber door set within roll-moulded and keystoned opening. Above, consoled and ball-finialed balcony pierced with St Andrews cross motif. Stages separated by string courses, top stage with bipartite round-arched windows and consoled cornice and ball-finialed pierced balustrade to match. To left, pair of gabled bays, to right, 2 bays, the outer one gabled and slightly advanced.

INTERIOR: good quality, especially timberwork. Few original chimneypieces extant, predominantly 4-panel timber doors, working shutters, good decorative classical plaster cornicework to principal rooms. Entrance hall with large round arched stone niche and timber staircase with decorative balusters. Simple stained glass stair window. Billiard room with coombed strapwork ceiling, dado height timber panelling with integral Ionic columned chimneypiece. Boarded timber to tower room stair, decorative cast-iron balusters with timber handrail leads to observation deck.

Pitched roofs; grey slate. Predominantly plate glass and 4-pane timber sash and case windows, some with horns. Cast iron rainwater goods. Large consoled and corniced stacks with decorative clay cans.

GATE LODGE: circa 1900, with distinctive bowed 3-light corner window with conical slate roof. Single storey, squared and snecked sandstone, overhanging eaves, advanced pitched roof entrance porch to 3-bay E elevation. Timber sliding sash and case windows, predominantly 6-pane over 2-pane, 12-pane over 2-pane to bowed window. Graded grey slates. Gable stacks. Interior: simple, original room plan extant, 4-panel timber doors, some now part-glazed.

WALLED GARDEN: late to later 19th century. Rectangular plan with rounded ends, Queen Anne style red brick with flat sandstone coping with curvilinear shaped gable opposite entrance and evenly spaced segmental headed gables. S (entrance) wall composed of low squared and snecked sandstone wall with interlace hooped railings above and central round-arched keystoned and ball-finialled entrance. Heavily restored glasshouse to South elevation of N wall. Lean-to potting sheds to outer N wall with predominantly 12-pane timber sash and case windows and boarded timber doors with 3-light glazed panel.

Statement of Special Interest

A good example of the work of Andrew Heiton Jnr (1823-94) with fine architectural detailing and a particularly notable Italianate tower. Instances of Heiton's work in Fife are comparatively rare as he is more closely associated with his native Perthshire where he built up a large country house and suburban villa practice. Seggie House is unusual within the Fife country house tradition in that its then popular Italianate style with 3 stage tower has the feel of a suburban merchant's villa but transported to the Fife countryside. It has particularly well-detailed stonework and its distinctive tower along with the bow-windowed lodge form a significant feature in the landscape.

Seggie House was built for the Haig family who owned the nearby Seggie Whisky Distillery in Guardbridge. The distillery was founded in 1810 but by 1873 William Haig decided to convert it to a paper mill, forming the Guardbridge Paper Company. Although now in different ownership, the paper mill continues today in Guardbridge.

Buildings of Scotland notes the date of construction as around 1860 and the Savills sales particulars as 1870. It is possible that it was constructed as part of the change of industry at the associated mill and its date may therefore be closer to 1870. It is also suggested in Buildings of Scotland that the lodge is contemporary with the house, however, it does not appear until the 1912-13 ordnance survey map, suggesting that it is in fact later than the house. The walled garden is shown along with the house on the 1893-5 2nd edition map.

References

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