Archaeology Notes

Event ID 716417

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/716417

NT47NE 5 48801 78270

(NT 4880 7827) Ballencrieff (NR) (remains of)

OS 6" map (1968)

Ballencrieff House is now ruinous. Its SW part was built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries by John Murray, first Lord Elibank. (The RCAHMS note a dormer pediment dated 1625.) The N front and E end were added about 1730. The house was burnt out in 1868 and has since been deserted, but a two-storey outhouse of the later period, said to have been the laundry, still stands to the W and is inhabited. This is one of the two wings shown on a drawing of 1834. (The RCAHMS note a carved stone from the old house, with an indistinct date, probably 1586, inserted over the porch.)

C McWilliam 1978; RCAHMS 1924, visited 1912

The walls of this mansion, for the most part, still stand to roof height, though some of the N face has fallen. The dated dormer pediment was not located.

Visited by OS (RDL) 24 October 1962 and (BS) 14 October 1975

Clearance work in advance of restoration work has revealed several discoveries and cast new light on the building history of this residence. Discoveries include: (a) more 16th-century triple-mounted gun holes, (b) wooden draw bars in position in the ground-floor windows, (c) substantial remains of two early 17th-century moulded plaster ceilings in the first-floor hall and chamber, and (d) remains of an elaborate fireplace in the hall. Work continues.

C Tabraham 1993.

The house has been restored.

Information from C Tabraham, 17 May 2000.