Description

The monument consists of the remains of a fortified house of L-shaped plan. The building, situated in Braid Wood on the E side of the Lugar Water, is known as "Auchinleck Old House" or "Place of Auchinleck". The seventeenth-century house is constructed of roughly squared red sandstone. The external measurements of the long arm of the L are 23m N-S by 8.3m E-W. The short arm of the L extends 7.2m E from the NE corner.

The walls are 0.7m-0.8m thick. The house was originally four stories high (five in the tower), but the walls are greatly depleted and only stand to a height of 5m in the NE. Elsewhere, they are reduced to 2-3m. The ground floor in the NE wing is split into three vaulted compartments: a lobby and two rooms. There was originally a saddle-back tower with crow-stepped gables in the re-entering angle but this has been demolished.

There are entrances in the E wall of the main section and the S wall of the E wing. The lower floor has slit windows only. There are square-headed windows on the first floor, one in the W and one in the N wall. There is a terraced area to the W of the house. The area to be scheduled is rectangular and measures 30m N-S by 30m 40m E-W to include the castle and an area surrounding it which may contain evidence of occupation activity, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is a good example of a fortified domestic structure. It may conceal buried evidence which through excavation could clarify the ground plan and the extent of the outer courtyard.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NS 52 SW 4.

Reference:

MacGibbon, D. and Ross, T. (1887-92) The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, 5v, Vol. 3, 496-7, Edinburgh.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland