Abbotsford House, Stables

Courtyard-plan stable block to Abbotsford House with mid 19th century piend-roofed outbuilding to SW, linked to S corner by coped wall. Predominantly single storey with 2-storey sections to S and W corners; single-storey and attic piend-roofed former coach house and cottage to NE range. Random rubble with red sandstone ashlar dressings; some grey render to SE and NW ranges. Dormer windows of various types to 2-storey sections. Coped ashlar gatepiers to entrance of courtyard at N corner. Coped stacks to cottage. Graded grey slate to surviving parts of roof.

The STABLE BLOCK was built for Sir Walter Scott. It is shown on the 1821 map by John Smith, but at this date the SW range had not been built. The 1838 map shows the building footprint to be much the same as it is now, although the outbuilding to the SW first appears on the 2nd edition OS map. The stables are in a dangerously ruinous condition and several of the roofs have collapsed. There is a carved face over one of the doors to the cottage. Abbotsford is one of the most important 19th century buildings in Scotland. It was built for Sir Walter Scott, one of Scotland's greatest authors, and has great architectural and historical importance as it was the first Baronial Revival house where a conscious effort was made to re-create an authentic Scottish castle, using vernacular details (such as crowstepped gables), elements copied from earlier buildings (for example the entrance porch is based on the entrance to Linlithgow Palace), and pieces of old stonework and other fixtures from earlier buildings that were being demolished at that time (the door at 1st-floor level on the SW return of the 1822 entrance block was the Gaol door from the old Edinburgh Tolbooth, which was demolished in 1817). Castle-revival houses had, of course, been built prior to Abbotsford, most notably by Robert Adam, but Abbotsford was the first example where an effort was made to achieve antiquarian correctness.(Historic Environment Scotland List Entry)