Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

BLAIRMORE, FAIRY KNOWE INCLUDING COACH HOUSE, SUNDIAL, GATES AND GATEPIERSLB50414

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
C
Date Added
04/05/2006
Local Authority
Argyll And Bute
Planning Authority
Argyll And Bute
Parish
Dunoon And Kilmun
National Park
Loch Lomond And The Trossachs
NGR
NS 19448 81431
Coordinates
219448, 681431

Description

Loch Lomond And Trossachs National Park Planning Authority

Fairy Knowe is among the best of the mid-19th century villas in Blairmore. Its highly prominent position allows it to be seen and appreciated easily from the Shore Road. It is thought to be the work of Charles Wilson, one of the most important Glasgow architects of the mid 19th century. The house survives in very good original condition, largely unaltered.

Fairy Knowe is a roughly rectangular-plan pitch-roofed gable-fronted villa of c.1855, cottage style incorporating Jacobean details. The house sits well above the shore road on a steep hill, a position which gives it a view over much of the Firth of Clyde. The front (E) elevation consists of a central gable, slightly advanced, containing a canted bay with quatrefoil traceried parapet. To the left is a panelled timber door in a roll-moulded surround and a window. To the right a rectangular bay containing a tripartite window is surmounted by a half-dormer. The openings have strapwork pediments and there are ring-drip bargeboards to the central gable and dormer. There are two small blocks extending to the rear; that on the left (N) appears to belong to the original buildings, while that on the right is later.

Interior: the interior contains the original joinery and doors, including one with painted glass, a fine panelled plasterwork ceiling and other details such as a tudor-arched stone fireplace.

Materials: buff sandstone ashlar to the front, rubble to sides and rear. Graded grey slate roof, stone stacks and polygonal clay cans. Timber sash and case windows - predominately 12-pane to rear and 4-pane to front.

Coach House, Boundary Walls etc.: the pitch-roofed coach house by the roadside is of rubble with a square-headed coach door and a basket-arched window above, a blocked-up archway to the side and accommodation on the first floor. The coach house is accessed through a cast iron gate on rubble gatepiers with quartz rubble capstones. The boundary walls are of rubble. The main entrance to the house is to the S, with cast iron gates and castellated square-plan gatepiers.

To the front of the house is a sundial with a boulder base and urns on pedestals.

Statement of Special Interest

In the 1840s a number of Wilson's villas, such as a small house at Dunoon, were in the cottage style, which may include this house. A recent list of buildings by Wilson includes a design for a villa at Blairmore between 1855-7 and a villa for Hugh Reid ' which is thought to have been Glenconner, also at Blairmore (demolished) (Sinclair, 1995).

The house is thought to have been built for the Bald Family, dry salters (Information from the owner, 2004). It was also the home of the famous pathologist William Boog Leishman (1865-1926).

References

Bibliography

Ordnance Survey 1st edition (c1863) and 2nd edition (c1898); List of Benmore Feuars (c1915), Courtesy of Benmore Trust; Sinclair, F J, A Question of Style- Charles Wilson Architect 1810-1863 (1995); Walker, F A, Buildings of Scotland: Argyll and Bute (2000) (Mistakenly identified as Tower Hill); Information courtesy of the owner (2004).

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 29/03/2024 06:31