Little Vantage

Little Vantage was a coaching Inn and farmstead dating to the early part of the 18th century situated to the S of the A70 road from Edinburgh to Lanark adjacent to the drove road to West Linton via the Cauldstane Slap. The remains comprise a NS aligned rectangular stone structure with traces of foundations of outbuildings to the S and E next to a D-shaped access road. The surviving structure comprises part of the original range of buildings including a doorway to the NE and a possible fireplace to the W, but has been much repaired and modified to incorporate a short length of what appears to be field wall with coping stones on part of the N face. The walls survive to about 10 courses at their highest point. At some stage there may have been some form of temporary roofing as there are wires surviving pinned to the W wall, possibly as a shelter for livestock. The area of the site comprised Houses, Yards and Roads - 1.606 acres, Peat Road - 0.954 acres, Woodlands - 5.530 acres and Arable 74.418 acres, a total of 82.508 Scots acres (103.960 Imperial acres) (NAS RHP14573) The layout in the 1846 plan is similar to that shown on the 6" 1st Edition OS map of 1853. On the 2nd edition OS (1895) the structure is annotated as a sheepfold.

Nearby was a Toll House, cottage, quarry and village school. William Swanson was owner in 1846 when the surviving estate plan was drawn. Leithhead Estate, including Little Vantage was advertised for sale in 1850 and by 1855 it was the property of Alexander Maconochie of Meadowbank House. In 1865 George Glendinning of Hatton Mains held three farms, including Little Vantage which he received rents for as factor for Mr Welwood who is noted as joint proprietor with Alexander Maconochie in 1865 Valuation Rolls.

The earliest recorded tenant of Little Vantage was William Thomson in 1730, based on a contract of marriage with Isobel Sheill.(NAS GD!/629/4). Buildings at Little Vantage were depicted on Ainslie's map of 1735 and on Roy's map of 1747. References dated 1778 relate to visits by James Boswell, Laird of Auchinleck and members of his family, and David Loch recorded "a tolerable good house is kept by Mrs Robertson" in his "Tour through most of the Trading Towns and Villages of Scotland. Census records reveal that James Waterston was Flesher and Innkeeper by 1841. His tenure was enlivened by various events including sheep stealing by James Belford in 1843. In 1849 Elizabeth Wilson, a worker with Mr Gray at Harperrig was convicted for the crime of stealing a tumbler and two brass candle snuffers from the inn, and, in view of her three previous convictions for minor crime, was sentenced to 7 years transportation. In 1857 Walter Gray, a Water Company labourer was found guilty of stealing a plaid and a cravat from the kitchen of Little Vantage Inn and sentenced to 20 days imprisonment. The final reference to the Inn was a dinner to John Alexander for his work on the compensation pond for the Millers on the Leith at Harperrig on 4th May 1859. By 1861 the census records show "Little Vantage Farm Steading (formerly Inn). The tenant was William Ballaney. Finally in 1874, William Dow, a carrier residing at Little Vantage was charged with poaching a hare and was fined 30s and 27/6 expenses with the option of 1 month's imprisonment. In 1895 Little Vantage Farm was operated by David Arbuckle but by 1903 the lands were being let for summer grazing. In September 1895 the Inn was described as an "utter ruin"

The other main dwelling in the area, the Toll House would have been constructed at the time of the opening of the Edinburgh - Lanark turnpike in the early 18th century. Census records indicate that a tollkeeper was employed until 1881 and by 1891 the "old" toll house was occupied by a Road Labourer. There was also a Little Vantage Cottage inhabited until the 1901 census. The Toll House continued to be occupied until 1940 when Valuation Rolls note it as uninhabitable. It is possible that the Toll House and Toll Post were seperate buildings but map evidence is inconclusive. The 1871 census records three households, the Toll, the Farm and Little Vantage Cottage. An unroofed building is shown on a 1965 RAF AP. The school is located just to the N of the A70 and was noted in the OS Name Book as "attended by an average of 40 children of both sexes" presumably drawn from nearby farms and quarry housing, of which there is no record.