Building record MAB36320 - BALMADIES HOUSE

Mansion house with stables and a farmstead, situated within a designed landscape, still in use.

Mansion house with stables and a farmstead, situated within a designed landscape, still in use. The house is also known as 'Ochterlony'. The B-listed mansion was built in 1821 for agriculturalist Henry Stephens, supervised by mason George Sharp of Edinburgh. It replaces an earlier 17th century house. The mansion house is a small two-storey and basement 'classic' ashlar-built house, with a pedimented centre bay with a couple-columned Greek-Doric porch. There is a walled garden with associated buildings to the south-west (NO 5518 4959). To the west are U-plan stables (NO54NE0110), rubble-built and single-storey, with a slate roof. They were built in circa 1821, but possibly use some 17th century fabric. The open court of the stables has a small two-storey coachman's house. There are inset carved stones and an inscribed panel bearing 17th century dates. There are two possibly early-17th century renaissance ashlar gatepiers (NO54NE0111), to the stables, with moulded caps and baluster-shaped finials. These are B-listed. The flanking rubble walls are pierced by shot-holes, and there is an inset inscribed stone. The farmhouse is a plain, two-storey, rubble-built house with a slate roof. Beyond the stables is an E-plan farmstead open to the south, with a horse-mill on the north elevation and a T-plan C-listed farmhouse to the east (NO 5494 4969). The farmhouse is late-18th century, with a 19th century extension. There is a garden enclosure and a row of buildings to the south of the farmhouse, and a small mill dam to the west of the steading, and another to the south. On the 2nd edition OS map, the courts of the steading have been filled, and the farmhouse has been extended to the south.

Period Notes
The present mansion was built in 1821, replacing a 17th century house, and the gatepiers to the stables are possibly early-17th century. The stables are from circa 1821, possibly using some 17th century fabric. The farmhouse is late-18th century, with a 19th century addition. The mansion, stables and gatepiers were listed on 11/06/1971, and the farmhouse was listed on 15/01/1980.

GLENDINNING, M, 2008, BUILDINGS OF THE LAND: SCOTLAND'S FARMS 1750-2000, p.47, Fig 2.28 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2625.

Record last edited

Mar 2 2020 3:38PM