Building record MAB37079 - 45, 47, 49 HIGH STREET, BRECHIN

Shop and residential accommodation, dating from late 18th century or early 19th century.

Shop and residential accommodation, dating from late 18th century or early 19th century. A standing building survey was carried out over these properties in February 2011 by Derek Hall in advance of a proposed programme of modernisation. During the survey, careful examination of visible wall elevations suggested that the buildings have quite a complicated history. For example, the fragment of threshold visible in the Southern elevation of no 45 just below ceiling level suggests that the former ceiling / floor level in that building was at least 0.10m lower than it is now. In a similar manner to the blocked doorway that is visible in the Southern internal elevation of room 4 in 49G this threshold may relate to a doorway leading out onto the pend with the stairway that lies on the North side of the building. The two fireplaces side by side in the North elevation of no 45 may relate to its recorded use a bakers shop in the 19th century Brechin Valuation Rolls. A second phase of survey was carried out by Derek Hall in December 2011. The location of further blocked doorways and a single blocked window at first floor level in 49G High Street have further added to the complicated sequence of historic building events on this part of the High Street. The blocked doorway in the Southern elevation of Room 3 presumably leads out into the covered pend that has access to the High Street via a set of stairs and the blocked doorway in the Northern elevation of Rooms 1 and 3 must lead into the neighbouring United Presbyterian church although this must have gone out of use when the subdividing timber laced brick walls were built against it. It is harder to interpret the blocked window in the Southern elevation of Room 3 as this would seem to imply that this wall was formerly an external face to the building. The erection of the United Presbyterian church to the South sometime after 1847 has meant that it is now difficult to interpret the phasing of the construction of the buildings that stood on the site previous to that. The discovery of the timber laced handmade brick internal walls in Room 1 is of interest and is a rare survival of this building technique. Within the garden of No. 49 is a bee-bole of probable 18th century date noted in the 1960s.

HALL, D, 2011, FURTHER STANDING BUILDING SURVEY 45, 47 AND 49G HIGH STREET, BRECHIN, SBS (Bibliographic reference). SAB4364.

HALL, D, 2011, STANDING BUILDINGS SURVEY: 45, 47, 49G HIGH STREET, BRECHIN, SBS (Bibliographic reference). SAB4343.

ARCHAEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2012, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND. NEW SERIES, VOLUME 12, 2011, p.29 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5536.

Record last edited

Jul 18 2022 3:04PM