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Summary

Description

Mid 19th century with 1920s shop (see Notes). 2-storey, single bay traditional shop with fine interior, and adjacent 2-storey, 3-bay house. Coursed ashlar with contrasting black whinstone Aberdeen bond (black-painted to NE) and white-painted pointing; raised margins. Base, band and eaves courses. Stone mullions.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION:

NO 17: No 19 adjoining at left. Full-width fixed display window on green tile base with multi-pane margined leaded glazing worded 'PORK BUTCHER & BACON CURER' to top light; canted angle to right with in-canted doorway with mosaic-tiled floor and ceramic-tiled wall to right incorporating panel depicting pig and piglets; outer pilasters. Full-width frieze with 'H W IRVINE BACON CURER' giving way to cornice with moulded brackets. Flat-roofed 1st floor with timber-shingled apron below full-width tripartite window and narrow bipartite to canted outer right angle over painted sign.

NO 19: symmetrical; No 17 adjoining at right. Centre bay with panelled timber door and decorative leaded fanlight incorporating name 'KNOCK MA HAR' at ground and single window above, further single windows in flanking bays at ground and bipartite windows at 1st floor.

NE (MITCHELL SQUARE) ELEVATION: gabled bay to left with flat-roofed bay (see above) at left and single window to 1st floor right.

Lower bays to right with 3 irregularly-disposed openings at ground, window to left at 1st floor and broad boarded timber door to right at 1st floor, both breaking eaves into flat roofs.

SW ELEVATION: plain ashlar, gabled elevation with 2 windows at 1st floor.

Plate glass glazing in timber sash and case windows to No 19; multi-pane top lights over timber casement windows to No 17 SE at 1st floor, timber windows with variety of openings elsewhere. Grey slates. Brick stacks with cans. Overhanging eaves, plain bargeboarding.

INTERIOR NO 17: shop interior fully-lined with ceramic tiles incorporating variety of green borders; window tiling worded 'BACON CURER' 'H W IRVINE' 'BUTCHER' and incorporating panel depicting 3 pigs.

Statement of Special Interest

Formerly with its own slaughter house, the bacon curing business and butcher's shop was owned by John McDougall in 1900. It was taken over, and is still run, by the Irvine family in the early 1920s. The process of curing (still carried out at these premises) includes leaving bacon in saltpetre for 2 days and subsequent smoking. Macdonald mentions very dark whinstone which was quarried from "horizontal layers along the ridge of Knock-ma-har" (known as 'The Knocky'), but was little used "owing to its sombre and gloomy colour, and its almost impracticable hardness".

References

Bibliography

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