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Summary

Description

Renovated in around 1870 by William Leiper and probably with earlier fabric dating to around 1840, the Court of Offices is a U-plan agricultural steading, stable block and coachhouse which forms part of a historic group of estate buildings on the former Cornhill estate, near Biggar. The steading comprises a central coachhouse range and two wings and is located southeast of Cornhill House (now operating as a hotel and known as Cornhill Castle).

The buildings are constructed in snecked whinstone rubble with contrasting, tooled, pink and yellow sandstone stonework around the openings. The coachhouse is single-storey in height with a pair of tall arched entrances with double, boarded timber doors and decorative wrought iron hinges. The coachhouse is flanked by single-storey storage areas, that are lower in height and have separate entrance openings.

The east wing includes a single-storey and attic section with irregular window openings and a French Vernacular-style, two-storey house. The asymmetrical house has a gabled timber porch with rustic columns and an open, bracketed timber head below a slated roof. The wallhead of the outer bay is raised and two dormer windows with open, bracketed timber bargeboards break the roof eaves. The west wing has a large cartshed opening facing the courtyard with a hayloft opening above. This wing is largely open to the elements, but the building is complete to wallhead. A four-bay outshot fronts the drive with an arched cart opening. A timber lean-to structure on the exterior of the northwestern corner houses a table saw. There is a later brick-built, rectangular-plan structure with a hipped roof behind the coachhouse range, map evidence indicates this was built sometime in the mid to later 20^th century.

Some of the window openings have timber sash and case frames, some have no glazing, and some are boarded-up. The roof of the central range is largely intact and is covered in slates. A large proportion of the roof structure and roofing material on the east wing is gone and parts of the roof are covered by tarpaulin. Much of the west wing is unroofed. Those roof sections that are slated have prominent eaves with shaped rafter ends. There are three chimneystacks, one on the gable end of the east wing (the house) and two along the roof ridge of the central range.

Internally, some interior features survive, including whitewashed rubble walls, concrete animal byres and stone troughs/sinks in the southwestern section. The central range and northeast section of the steading have white tiles on the lower half of the walls with timber stud partitioning above. The interior of the west wing has a significant amount of well-established vegetation growth within (2023).

Historical background

The Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1858-61 describes Cornhill House as a substantial mansion house, the property of William Handyside (OS1/21/19/21). This refers to the earlier Cornhill House, which was built around 1840. The house and estate were sold to Alexander Kay and he commissioned William Leiper to renovate and enlarge the original house and estate in around 1870. Kay (c.1811-1899) was a wealthy merchant who worked for James Finlay and Company of Glasgow (Scottish Post Office Directories).

The steading is shown on the 1^st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858-9 as a U-shaped, courtyard-plan steading with an outshot at right angles to the west wing and a gasometer attached. The Court of Offices remained in much the same footprint following its renovation by Leiper, except for the addition of the porch to the accommodation in the east wing (as shown on the 2^nd and later Edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1896 and 1909).

The house is now used as a hotel, known as Cornhill Castle (2023).

Statement of Special Interest

We have found that the Court of Offices continues to meet the criteria for listing for the following reasons:

• It retains its distinctive architectural features showing its original function, such as its arched coachhouse and cartshed openings, and its single-storey and attic wings.
• Though there has been some loss of fabric, particularly to the wings, much 19^th century fabric survives and the steading mirrors the Early French style of Cornhill House, the former Home Farm and Sunnyside Cottage.
• Known for his domestic work, much of William Leiper's design features survive throughout, but particularly to the exterior of the house, including the timber bargeboards, dormer windows, moulded rafter ends, the overhanging eaves and the rustic porch.
• The plan form and footprint of the building largely survives in its pre-1870s form.
• It forms part of a historic grouping with Cornhill House and is a significant component of the historic country estate.
• The historic setting is largely intact, regardless of the later housing development to the south of the steading and the loss of some ancillaries, because the visual relationship between the house and steading is retained, as well as the overall layout of the wider designed landscape.

Architectural interest

Design

The plan form and construction materials of the Court of Offices is characteristic of a 19th century steading and its layout continues to show the original agricultural and stabling function of the building, but it is the elaborate and well-executed design quality of the steading that is of interest in listing terms. While there is a loss of fabric to both wings, in particular to much of the roof structure, the walls are largely complete to wallhead and, as a whole, the building retains a significant amount of 19th century fabric, plan form and historic character. This includes features characteristic of the architect William Leiper's design, such as the distinctive timber bargeboards to the dormer windows, the moulded rafter ends and the overhanging eaves. The house section retains Leiper's "French Vernacular" style, which has links with vernacular buildings of the Loire Valley and relates to that of Lindsaylands in Biggar, also by Leiper (1869).

William Leiper (1839-1916) is recognised as one of Scotland's leading architects and designers. He became well-known for his domestic architecture and is known locally for renovating and enlarging Lindsaylands in Biggar (listed at category B, LB6461). He was also responsible for designing the Templeton Carpet Factory in Glasgow (listed at category A, LB33857). In his domestic work, he favoured using local construction materials and half-timbered gables and his style progressed over his career from his early "Frenchified" version of Scots Baronial (for example, Cornhill) to Scots Baronial and Arts and Crafts (Dictionary of Scottish Architects).

Setting

The Court of Offices is one of a number of surviving estate related structures within the wider setting of the category B-listed Cornhill House (LB1430). The other separately listed buildings are the north lodge, walls and gatepiers (LB1407), Cornhill Farmhouse and Steading (LB6456) and Sunnyside Cottage (LB1406), and the unlisted south lodge. As an ancillary component of Cornhill estate, the survival of the Court of Offices adds to the design interest of this group of buildings, re-designed by Leiper in around 1870.

The Court of Offices occupies a prominent track-side position within the Cornhill estate along one of the late-19th century estate drives between the Home Farm and the gatelodge at the southern entrance to the estate (as shown on the 2nd and later Edition maps of 1896 and 1909). It retains its footprint and plan form within the redesigned 1870s landscape and, as such, maintains its relationship to the main house.

There have been some changes to the immediate setting of the Court of Offices. The 1870 walled garden and the later 19th century kennels, to the south of the steading, have gone and have been replaced by housing at Cornhill Grove, built between 2007 and 2010. Timber chalets were also added to the west of the steading in the 2020s. These changes, however, have had minimal impact on the overall setting of the Court of Offices because it remains prominent, in part, because it is still intervisible with the main house. The later housing at Cornhill Grove is largely shielded from the main elevation of the steading by the mature trees lining the drive in front of the steading. The wooded drive leading northwards to Cornhill House also appears to follow its historic route and indicates must of the historic setting remains intact.

Overall, the Court of Offices retains a significant amount of well-detailed and decorative fabric in characteristic Leiper style. The loss of fabric is not to such an extent that adversely affects the special architectural interest of the building. Furthermore, the U-shaped, courtyard plan form is clearly visible and the low level of later alteration contributes to the building's authenticity and historic character.

Historic interest

Age and rarity

Steadings and stables are a prolific building type in Scotland. They can be found on most 19th century country estates because they provided accommodation for carriages, horses and other animals, and often housed the estate dairy, game larder and often accommodation for some estate workers. The courtyard plan was common, as the wings could hide some of the more utilitarian aspects of the building while the courtyard elevation was designed to impress.

The Court of Offices is not a rare or early example of its building type, but it continues to be of interest in listing terms because it is an important surviving ancillary component of Cornhill estate redesigned by the renowned architect William Leiper in around 1870. The survival of his work at the Court of Offices, and across the wider Cornhill estate, is of note. It reflects both the tastes and status of a merchant family with considerable wealth at this time. Together, the historically and functionally related buildings at Cornhill inform our understanding of how country estates of this size operated and developed over time. While there have been some later changes at Cornhill, the overall architectural style, design and character of the 1870s redesign remains largely readable across the estate, including in its principal buildings.

Listed building record revised in 2023.

References

Bibliography

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