Livingston, Howden House

A historic building survey carried out at Howden House, Livingston, West Lothian. The work was undertaken to fulfil a planning condition (0403/LBC/06). Howden House is a Category Grade B Listed Building. The main three story block has five bays and two story wings on each end. Howden House was completed in about 1770, possibly for Thomas Farquharson of Howden. In 1834 the house was purchased by Henry Raeburn, son of artist Sir Henry Raeburn. The survey showed that the building had undergone a number of major developmental phases since it was first constructed. The results confirm that a great deal of modification and remodelling and repair work had been carried out over the last 242 years. Most of the period features had been removed with only the main stair surviving which probably dates to the early 19th century. The key development phases. The east and west wings are major additions that were constructed shortly after the main core block, with the East Wing being a single storey structure that was heightened at an unknown date. The two-storey West Wing was built in a single phase. Much of the current footprint of the building has not altered radically since the early to mid19th century. A programme of test-pitting was aso undertaken following submission of the survey repport.

Information from Oasis (cfaarcha1-166513) 5 March 2014

NT 05212 67663 A historic building survey was undertaken, March 2011 – June 2012, of Howden House, a Category B listed building built in c1770. The main three-storey block has five bays and two-storey wings on each end. The exterior is harled and the windows have raised margins. The main entrance on the S-facing elevation includes an ionic porch. The rear N-facing elevation has four bays with an off-centre window lighting the rear staircase. The interior of the building has largely been stripped of its principal fixtures and fittings. The RCAHMS record (NT06NE 52) mentions the potential presence of an earlier tower inside the present building, but offers no information on its location. The existing ground and first floors both have a wall that is >2.5m thick, which is unusually large for an 18th-century building and this wall may well represent the original reused remains of an earlier 15th- or 16th-century tower.

The survey showed that the building has undergone a number of major developmental phases. The building was recorded on a room-by-room basis and the results confirm that a great deal of modification, remodelling and repair work has been carried out over the last 242 years. Most of the period features have been removed with only the early 19th-century main stair surviving. The E and W wings were major additions constructed shortly after the main core block. The E wing was a single storey structure that was heightened at an unknown date. The two-storey W wing was built in a single phase. Much of the current footprint of the building has not altered radically since the early to mid-19th century. Minor 20th-century additions include electrical switch gear, most of the fireplaces (with the exception of the 2nd floor) and the concrete staircase in the E wing. Numerous new doorways surrounded by brickwork form part of these later additions.

Archive: RCAHMS

Funder: EMA Architecture and Design Ltd (on behalf of Planview Ltd)

Gary Savory, CFA Archaeology Ltd

Mike Cressey,

2012

A number of test pits were excavated in June 2012 to check for the presence of earlier building remains within the interior of the current building. A wall aligned cNNE–SSW and built onto bedrock was recorded underlying the N–S aligned wall of the W wing of the house. It was unclear whether this was an earlier wall or part of the foundations of the current wall of the house, but the slight divergence in its alignment from the current wall does suggest it might be earlier in date.

Archive: RCAHMS

Funder: EMA Architecture and Design Ltd (on behalf of Planview Ltd)

Gary Savory, CFA Archaeology Ltd

Mike Cressey,

2012