Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

COUSLAND, SMIDDY AND COTTAGELB776

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
16/10/1986
Local Authority
Midlothian
Planning Authority
Midlothian
Parish
Cranston
NGR
NT 37840 68484
Coordinates
337840, 668484

Description

Late 18th century. Single storey, 4-bay rectangular smiddy with circa 1940 brick lean-to extension to E. Early 19th century 3-bay rectangular blacksmith's cottage with rear gabled extension adjoining to W. Random rubble smiddy with some rubble quoins, timber lintels and flat ashlar skews. Random rubble cottage, ashlar long and short quoins, sills and steps, timber lintel to rear door; harled to front with painted margins.

SMIDDY: S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: pair of timber boarded doors within full height door way with corrugated metal canopy breaking through eaves; large fixed light window to right with smaller window adjacent, low fixed light window to left of doorway with cast-iron trough and pal stone below.

W ELEVATION: adjoining front of cottage gable.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: small window to right, large window off centre left; lower extension with catslide roof to far left, blind end with window to right return.

E ELEVATION: blind gable with stack adjoining brick lean-to extension: 2 widely spaced irregular windows, full height pair of sliding corrugated metal doors to left return, blind wall to right return.

Smiddy: 3 fixed windows of varying size with mullions holding small square panes of joiner's glazing, timber lintels, no sills or astragals; 2-pane and single pane fixed windows to rear elevation with large window matching those on front elevation. Piended pan-tiled roof with open eaves, exposed beams and rafters. Corrugated Perspex roof light to rear. Corrugated door porch to front with single gutter draining directly onto roof, no rainwater goods to rest of structure. Brick stack to each gablehead, stone neck copes and replacement cans.

INTERIOR: large room with exposed whitewashed stone walls, whitewashed brick fireplace and wide hearth to E, various wooden workbenches and shelving, metal anvils and tools, all extant. Exposed rafters and beams, timber and cobble flooring.

COTTAGE: S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: central door: boarded door with 2-pane fanlight above;

W ELEVATION: gable end with stone skews and short brick stack, later rubble and brick lean-to with corrugated metal roof conjoining cottage to remains of wheelwrights house to ground floor right.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: almost T-plan due to lower projecting gable ended scullery and porch. Small window in gable end, blind to left return, entrance door and small window to right return; larger window to flanks on main cottage, low rubble garden wall with shaped copes adjoining to right.

E ELEVATION: gable end with gablehead stack, adjoining lower smiddy to left and centre.

12-lying pane timber sash and case windows to front with internal shuttering, 9-pane and single fixed pane window to rear. Piended pantiled roof with brick skews to rear gable end, stone skews to main cottage. Brick stacks with projecting stone neck copes and plain cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: centrally placed, half-panelled hall with principal room leading off each, small bedroom to rear. Scullery along central passage almost intact with Belfast sink, wash tank. Late 19th century cast-iron fires (1 with tiled surround), early 20th century tiled surround to living room. Original timber shuttering and floors.

Statement of Special Interest

The smithy is earlier than the adjacent house. It has low eaves, the high, wide entrance to admit horses if necessary, and large fixed front windows through which light can enter. This smithy is unusual in that it is still in working order and used at the present time as a wrought-iron workshop. It has a good range of older tools both in the smithy and the later workshop. The smithy has a cottage next to it built in earlier 19th century, it housed the blacksmith. The cottage is well preserved with original fittings still in existence and an almost untouched scullery to the rear. Adjacent to it is the remnants of the wheelwright's house. The latter structure formerly housed a family in each of its two rooms. It shares a central open chimney, on which cooking was also done. It is now roofless, but the original fenestration and doorways can still be seen. Behind all three properties lies garden ground that was stocked with fruit and vegetables for the people who lived and worked there. Outside the entrance to the smithy building can still be seen a large circular stone upon which the wheelwright used to shoe his wheels. There is also a relocated cast-iron trough, from Dalkeith Foundry in 1845. In the past the smithy serviced most of the farms in the area and tools of its trade can be found inside. Even the later brick extension houses colliery workshop machine

tools and a lawn mower blade sharpener - themselves good survivors of an almost bygone industrial era.

References

Bibliography

J Thomas, MIDLOTHIAN (1995) p104. Information courtesy of David Fleming, 2001.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 21:42