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A T R E A T I S E 
 
 ON 
 
 RURAL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 COMPREHENDING 
 
 PLANS, ELEVATIONS AND SECTIONS. 
 
 OF 
 
 J)' ARM HOUSES, FARM OFFICES, COTTAGES, 
 
 MANSES, SCHOOLS. GATES, RAILINGS, ETC. 
 
 WITH 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS, 
 
 AND ALL NECESSARY INFORMATION AS TO THEIB COST. 
 
 BY 
 
 W* J. (J RAY, 
 
 ARCHITECT, GOADING II A M . 
 
 EDITED B1 WILLIAM WALLACE FYFE, 
 Lecturer on Agriculture. Edinburgh; Author of the Highland Society's Prize Esgnjr on Hiring Murk. ' | 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH F O R T V-E I 0 II I PLATES 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 W. H. 1,1 Z A US, •% ST. JAMES' SQUARE: S. BIOHLEY, LONDON: 
 A N I) A LL BOOKSELLERS 
 
 MDCCCL1I. 
 
" Where whole families are crowded into one apartment, common to every domestic 
 purpose, the difficulties such a dwelling present, are calculated to smother the desire 
 of intellectual cultivation. It seems hardly possible, that intelligence, piety, or even 
 morality, can exist in the narrow crowded dwellings which many of the working 
 classes of this country inhabit — confined ill ventilated abodes, surrounded by every 
 outward auxiliary to vice and disease, ( are poor nurseries for the young, whether we 
 regard their bodily or spiritual nature." — " The Pearl of Days" by Barbara Smith, 
 Ayton, a Labourer's Daughter. 
 
 Printed by W. 11. Lizars, tit. James' Square, Edinburgh. 
 
TO 
 
 DAVIT) MILNE, ESQ. OF MILNEGKADRN, 
 
 WHOSE NAME STANDS DESERVEDLY UKill AS THE I'ltOMOTEK OF MAW 
 
 BENEVOLENT MEASURES, BAYING POB Til El II OH M i t 
 
 THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOCIAL AND MORAL CONDITION OF Till. 
 
 WORKING CLASSES OF THIS COUNTRY 
 
 THIS WOHK I S 
 
 11V 1 1 IS KIND PERMISSION 
 
 VERY RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 BY HIS MUCH OBLIGED AND MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PRE F A C E. 
 
 The progress of improvement now becoming - general in the 
 construction of agricultural buildings, has manifested itself more 
 remarkably within the last ten or twenty years, than during 
 any previous period of our history. Yet this movement is 
 only in its infancy, and must advance step for step, along with 
 the operations in draining, levelling, enclosing, planting, shel- 
 tering, reclamation, and general culture, which are still con- 
 tinuing to alter the face of the country, under the well directed 
 efforts of many skilful agriculturists and enterprising proprietors. 
 
 Even cottage improvement, the favourite branch of this 
 beneficial taste for rural edifices, had it not owed its impulse 
 to the motives of morality and philanthropy, to which in a 
 great measure it may be traced, must nevertheless have followed, 
 as a mere consequence of the other changes enumerated, were 
 it only that things might be in keeping. Experience proves, 
 that analogous improvements always keep pace in this manner 
 with one another. 
 
 Nothing could be more incongruous than what we still 
 sometimes see on the most valuable landed properties — "high 
 farming" carried on amidst ill arranged or even ruinous 
 offices. It may be compared to the act of embroidering a 
 tattered garment. Now, however, that the principle of the 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Government Drainage Loans lias been extended by Act of 
 Parliament [14 and 15 Vict. cap. 31] to the erection of farm 
 buildings, no such anomaly need longer exist. Whatever facili- 
 ties may thus be afforded by the State, and whatever encourage- 
 ments besides may be held out by public bodies, there can 
 be no question, that the surest and most satisfactory means of 
 enhancing the appearance, and indeed the marketable value of 
 landed property, consists in setting down on it efficient build- 
 ings — the mansion, the farm house, the steading, and the cot- 
 tage. There can be few cases, therefore, where such improve- 
 ments are required, destitute of positive inducements, to make 
 available all existing means of accomplishing such works. 
 
 In addition to improved accommodation for the farm 
 tenant and his dependants, it is gratifying to find, in so many 
 cases, the wants of their instructors no less anxiously attended 
 to, and heritors, proprietors, and people, manifesting anxiety to 
 follow up the course of improvement, by the erection of 
 manses, school houses, &c. This peculiarly evinces the strong- 
 hold which has been gained by the moral and higher sources 
 of this movement. 
 
 It must thus be acknowledged, that a spirit for the 
 improvement of country buildings prevails throughout Scotland. 
 It was to meet a suggestion, that a work on Rural Architec- 
 ture, comprehending Plans of Farm Houses, Offices, Dairies and 
 Cottages, School Houses, Manses, and other erections, accom- 
 panied with Specifications, and all necesary and practical infor- 
 mation as to their cost, was now called for, that the author 
 undertook his present task. On that head he ventures simply 
 to repeat what was set forth in the original prospectus. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 Many are the publications on the Practice and Principles 
 of Agriculture, and it is admitted, that some of them contain 
 incidental notices of what is required for Farm Steadings. But 
 it is believed, that there is no treatise specifically applicable to 
 the various kinds of buildings which landed proprietors have 
 frequently to erect, giving such information as to enable them 
 to judge of the probable expense, and far less to contract with 
 tradesmen. They must first employ some intermediate person, 
 if such there be in the district, to draw out plans and specifi- 
 cations, whereby much additional expense and delay arc 
 created. 
 
 To obviate these disadvantages, the following Treatise 
 has been composed, consisting chiefly of Plans and Specifica- 
 tions, all perfectly intelligible to any country workman ; in 
 proof of wihich, it is only necessary to state, that the works 
 therein described, have, by these very Plans and Specifications, 
 been actually erected and completed. 
 
 In regard to the expense of the several works, the infor- 
 mation which will be given, must, of course, be taken under 
 considerable modifications. During the last four years, the 
 prices of timber, glass, slates, and other materials, and the 
 rates of wages, have in some districts varied as much as 30 
 per cent. Moreover, the cost of an erection in one district, 
 affords no test of its cost in any other district, as so much 
 depends on the distance of carriage and on the demand for 
 labour. 
 
 The author's object is only to produce a work of prac- 
 tical utility. The extensive employment and patronage with 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 which he has been honoured in his native county, satisfies 
 him, that there must be a great want of a Treatise, adapted to 
 the circumstances of those engaged in agricultural pursuits, and 
 that to this want he must have been indebted for the employ- 
 ment and patronage which he has received. 
 
 It will be found, that there is a greater variety of 
 designs for Cottages than for any other -kind of works — a cir- 
 cumstance which strongly marks the prevalence, in Berwick- 
 shire, of a laudable desire among its landlords, to promote the 
 comfort and well being of the labouring classes. The author, 
 from the constant personal intercourse which he has had with 
 these classes, can testify to the great good which is done by 
 improving their dwellings. The proprietor or tenant, who is 
 known to have houses of this description, is sure to get better 
 servants, and to retain them longer than others, who have only 
 hovels to offer; and whilst by such means he promotes the 
 comfort and morality of those about him, he on his part will 
 find, that he has secured the services of obedient and grateful 
 dependants. 
 
 The author hopes, that he may be forgiven for thus 
 venturing a little beyond his province in these remarks ; but 
 he feels it to be due to the labouring classes themselves, that 
 he should testify how much they appreciate whatever is done 
 to improve their domestic condition. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION PROGRESS OK RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Progress of Rural Architecture in Scotland — Mud Walls of last Century — 
 Castles and Villages — Farms and Cot-Towns — " Cottage Reform in 
 1795" — Baledgarno — Bamburgh — Border Movement — Highland Society 'a 
 Report — Rosebery Cottage Plans — Close-burn Cottages — Improved Cot- 
 tage Windows — Northumberland Cottage Improvement Society — Rev. Dr. 
 Gilly's Description of Hinds' Cottages — Duddo, Grindon, and Thornton 
 Cottage Improvements — Northumberland Cottage Improvements — Hen- 
 ham, Holkham, Culford, Harlaxtou Improvements — Mr. J. C. Loudon's 
 Model Cottage — The Duke of Northumberland's Thousand — American 
 Rural Architecture — Mr. J. A. Downing — The Rural Gothic in America 
 
 — American Idea of a "Complete" Farmery — Mr. Downing on "Fitness" 
 in Buildings — Mr. J. W. Stevenson's "Cottage Homes" — Sanitary Injunc- 
 tions — II. R. II. Prince Albert's Models — Old Onsteads in Scotland — 
 Improvement of the Farm Row — The Farm House — Its Form and 
 Accommodations — Schemes of Farm OfhYcs — Manses — Schools — (Sates 
 
 — Railinirs 
 
 C II A P T E R 1 I . 
 
 FARM HOUSES. 
 
 Four distinct Varieties of Farm Houses Illustrated — East Blanerne Farm House 
 — Its Accommodations — Working Specifications — Mason Work — Joiner 
 Work — Slater Work — Plumber Work — Piaster Work — Broomdykes Farm 
 House — Its Accommodations and Advantages — Blaokpotts Farm House 
 and its Accommodations — Turtleton Farm House and its Accommodations 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FARM OFFICES. 
 
 Improved Examples — Mr. R. Ritchie's Arrangements — A Lothian Farmery — 
 Large Northumberland Farm Steading — Berwickshire Feeding Steading 
 
 — Complete Lothians do. — A Railway Stackyard — Intersecting Railway 
 for Farm Steadings — Compacting and Placing of Farm Buildings — Mr. 
 I. J. Mechi's Suggestions for Farmeries — The Duke of Bedford's Farm 
 Steadings — Ventilation of Stables and Byres — Mr. M'Gillivaray's Plan 
 
 — Mr. Neil Ballingal's Ventilating System — Liquid Manure Tanks — Illus- 
 trations of Mode of Constructing Tanks — Their Capacity, &c 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NEW AND IMPROVED EXAMPLES OF FARM STEADINGS. 
 
 Broomdykes Farm Offices with Specifications — Blackpotts Farm Offices and 
 Accommodations — Cairn Hill Farm Offices — Sunlaws Hill Farm Offices — 
 New Mains Farm Offices — Offices designed for the Farm of Press 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 COTTAGE ACCOMMODATION. 
 
 Our Practical Examples — Their Approval by the Highland and Agricultural 
 Society — Report on Cottage Premium, 1851, awarded to W. F. Home, 
 Esq. — Billie Mains Farm Cottages — Ground Plan and Accommodations — 
 Specifications, Mason Work, Carpenter Work, Slater Work, Plaster Work, 
 Plumber Work — Billie Mains Steward's Cottage — Huxton Cottage with 
 Specifications — North Falla-Knowe Cottages — Eyemouth Mill Cottages 
 with Specifications — Cairn Hill Cottages — Milldown Cottages with Spe- 
 cifications — Reston Hill Cottages — East Reston Mill Cottage — Swine- 
 wood Mill Cottage — Improvement of Cairncross Cottages with Specifica- 
 tions — Plans for Improvement of Four Cottages at Whitecross — White- 
 myre Cottages, Allanbank Estate, with Specifications — Allanbank Mill Cot- 
 tages — Sunnyside Cottages — Sunlaws Hill Cottages — Gardener's Cottages 
 also intended for an Entrance Lodge — Tradesman's Cottage 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MANSES, SCHOOLS, AND PUBLIC COUNTRY EDIFICES. 
 
 Public Buildings — Manses — Bunklc Manse — Its Accommodations — Working 
 Specifications — Cost — Paxton Female School — Its Architectural Merits 
 — Cost and Accommodations 121 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GATES AND MAILINGS. 
 
 Degeneracy of Rural Barriers and Fences — Their susceptibility of Symmetrical 
 Arrangement — Entrance Gate and Details — Designs of Rustic Railing 
 — Their Value as Accessory Features of Improvement — Description of 
 four Examples LSI 
 
 A I* P K N Dl X 
 
 Appendix 13;> 
 
 No. 1. Bamlmrgh Cottages, 1809 137 
 
 No. 2. II. R. H. Prince Albert's Model Houses for Families 13S 
 
 No. 3. Lumsden Model Dwellings 142 
 
 No. 4. Now Folding-up Cottage Ladder Ill 
 
 j "V 7 -A. 
 
 -is — — 5' 
 
 MP 
 
L I S T 
 
 OF TH R 
 
 PLATES, OWNERS, SITUATIONS, AND EXPENSE OF THE BUILDINGS, 
 
 F A Ii M HOUSES. 
 
 Plates. Buildings. Proprietors. Pariah. Shire. Cost 
 
 J. and II. East Blaaerne Farm Houses...... Bev. Sandys Lumsden... Bunkle Berwick, £500 
 
 r IT. IV. Broomdykea Farm House Sir Gh II. Boswell, Bart., Bdrom 
 
 V. VI. Blackpotts Farm House \V. F. Home, Esq Ooldingham, ... 700 
 
 VII. Turtleton Farm House W. F. Home. Esq Dunse 392 
 
 F A B M OFFICE S. 
 
 VIII. and IX. Broomdykea Farm Offices Sir 6f. H. Boswell. Bart., Eilrom Berwick 
 
 X. XI. Blackpotts Farm Offices W. F. Home, Esq Coldingliam, ... £*l<i 
 
 XII. XIII. Cairnliill Farm Offices \V. F. Home, Esq Dunse 
 
 XIV. Sunlaws Hill Farm Offices ... Win. Scott Kerr. Esq. of Chatt Bpxburgh 
 
 XV. XVI. Newmains Farm Offices George Home, Fs<| Coldingliam, Berwick 
 
 XVII. XVIIJ. Offices for Farm of Press Designedfor.T.Mack.F.M|. 
 
 C O T T A ( i I . S . 
 
 XIX. XX. ) 
 
 XXI. and > Billie Mains Farm Cottages... W. F. Home, Esq Bunkle Bel 
 
 XXII. ) 
 
 XXIII. Billie Mains Steward's Cottages... \V. F. Home, Esq 
 
 XXIV. XXV. Huxton Farm Cottages W. F. Home, Esq Coldingliam. 
 
 XXVI. North Fala-Knowc Farm Cottages W. F. Home, Esq 
 
 XXVII ) 
 
 XXVIII I Eyemouth Mill Cottages W. F. Home, Esq Fvemouth... 
 
 XXIX. Cairn Hill Farm Cottages W. F. Home, Esq Dunse 
 
 XXX. Milldown Farm Cottages W. F. Home, Esq Coldingliam, 
 
 XXXI. Reston Hill Farm Cottages, \V. F. Home, Esq 
 
 XXXII. East Ileston Mill Cottages W. F. Home, Esq 
 
 XXXIII. Swinewood Mill Cottages W. F. Home, Esq 
 
 XXXIV. Improving Cairncross Cottages... W. F. Home, Esq 
 
 XXXV. Plan tor Improving Four Cottages, II. Dickson, Esq. of. Whitecross, 
 
 wiek. £l(JO 
 
 \:V2 
 162 
 144 
 
 120 
 
 132 
 £118, 10s. 
 £73 
 192 
 196 
 
 .(inall)153 
 
LIST OF THE PLATES, OWNERS, SITUATIONS, AND EXPENSE OF THE BUILDINGS. 
 
 Plates. Buildings. Proprietors. Parish. Shire. Cost. 
 
 XXXVI. Whitemyre Farm Cottages Sir G. H. Boswell, Bart. Edrom Berwick £90 
 
 XXXVII. Allanbank Mill Cottages Sir G. H. Boswell, Bart 
 
 XXXVIII. Sunnyside Cottages Wm. Hood, Esq. Coldingham, ... 60 
 
 XXXIX. Sunlaws Hill Farm Cottages ... W. Scott Kerr, Esq. ... Roxburgh 
 
 XL. Gardeners' Gate Lodge late Thomas Begbie, Esq. Chirnside ... Berwick 218 
 
 XLI. Tradesman's Cottage 
 
 MANSE. 
 
 ^and XLI V I ^ un ^ e Manse Heritors of the Parish ... Bunkle Berwick, £795 
 
 SCHOOL. 
 
 XLV. Paxton Female School W. F. Home, Esq Hutton £300 
 
 GATE. 
 
 XLVI. Manse Entrance-Gate with Posts... Heritors of the Parish ... Chirnside £5, 10s. 
 
 RAILINGS. 
 
 XLVII. Four Designs for Rustic Railings... As above. As above. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 XLVIII. Bamburgh Cottages, 1809 Lord Crewe's Trustees 
 
 Northumberland 
 
A TREATISE 
 
 ON 
 
 RURAL ARCHITEC T 0 RE. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION — PROGRESS OF RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Progress of Rural Architecture in Scotland — Mud Walls of last Century- — Castles 
 and Villages — Farms and Cot-Towns — "Cottage Reform in 1795" — Baled- 
 garno — Bamburgh — Border Movement — Highland Society's Report — Rose- 
 bery Cottage Plans — Closeburn Cottages — Improved Cottage Windows — 
 Northumberland Cottage Improvement Society — Rev. Dr. Gilly's Description 
 of Hinds' Cottages — Duddo, Grindon, and Thornton Cottage Improvements 
 
 — Northumberland Cottage Improvements — Henham, Holkhani, Culford, 
 Harlaxton Improvements — Mr. J. C. Loudon's Model Cottage — The Duke 
 of Northumberland's Thousand — American Rural Architecture — Mr. J. A. 
 Downing — The Rural Gothic in America — American Idea of a "Complete" 
 Farmery — Mr. Downing on "Fitness" in Buildings — Mr. J. W. Stevenson's 
 "Cottage Homes" — Sanitary Injunctions — H. R. H. Prince Albert's Models 
 
 — Old Onsteads in Scotland — Improvement of the Farm Row — The Farm 
 House — Its Form and Accommodations — Schemes of Farm Offices — M;m-rt 
 
 — Schools — Gates — Railings. 
 
 A retrospective glance at the state of Rural Architecture, if such 
 a thing could, until recently, really be said to exist amongst us, 
 affords the most instructive commentary on the nature and benefits 
 of the improvements now in progress. It is unnecessary to go back 
 for this purpose to the period when the mansions of the great were 
 strewn with rushes instead of being laid with carpets, and lighted 
 through horn shavings instead of being glazed with glass. John 
 Ray, the naturalist who travelled into Scotland nearly two cen- 
 turies ago on a voyage of discovery, such as an adventurous tra- 
 veller might now take into Central Africa, writes in his Itinerary, 
 dated from Dunbar the 17th of August 1GG1, that the Scots "have 
 a custom to make up the fronts of their houses, even in their prin- 
 cipal towns, with fir boards nailed one over another, in which are 
 often made many round holes or windows to put out their heads." 
 In the best Scottish houses he adds " even the king's palaces, the 
 windows are not glazed throughout, but the upper part only ; the 
 lower have two wooden shuts or folds, to open at pleasure and 
 admit the fresh air." 
 
 A century later, when the wooden portion of house-windows 
 had come to be abandoned, it was remarked, in reference to 
 the rural parish of Dunsyre, where the atmosphere though good 
 
 A 
 
2 
 
 MUD WALLS OF LAST CENTURY. 
 
 was moist, and rheumatism and nervous disorders were found to 
 be prevalent, that these were partly attributable to the want of 
 circulation of air in the houses, the windows of which had 
 formerly had moveable timber leaves below and glass above, 
 but had been replaced by sashed windows, scarcely any of which 
 admitted of being opened. In Lanarkshire, indeed, towards the 
 close of the last century, we find that the cottages generally had 
 fallen into that dilapidated condition without, and that want of 
 judicious arrangement within, which have so generally charac- 
 terized our rural dwellings ever since. The houses were all ex- 
 ceedingly damp, the windows for the most part glazed, but few 
 of them made so as to open, and the common people universally 
 slept in close timber beds — few of them being sufficiently con- 
 vinced of the vast advantage of having their bed-clothes exposed 
 to the fresh air, or the danger of sleeping in a place so confined. 
 The box-bed, to this day, sadly hampers the construction of rural 
 abodes ; the occupant cannot be brought to dispense with it, and 
 the architect behoves to contrive accommodation for it within any 
 set of walls, designed to suit the circumstances of at least the 
 Border peasant. Wooden windows and ventilation were prero- 
 gatives of the better class of houses only, the poorer sort were 
 altogether too inferior for such appliances, being literally mud 
 hovels. At the close of last century, in the village of Dornock, 
 Dumfries-shire, consisting of about two dozen houses, scattered 
 along the side of the military road which passes through Annan- 
 dale, the manse and two other dwelling-houses inhabited by their 
 proprietors were the only buildings of two storeys in height or 
 covered with slates, the rest being all mud houses, covered with 
 thatch. The whole cottages and most of the farm-houses in this 
 and many other districts at that time — as in parts of the north 
 of Scotland, and throughout all Ireland at the present day — were 
 built of mud or clay; and when plastered or properly finished 
 within (of which many were by no means thought unworthy), 
 were considered to be extremely warm and comfortable. We 
 have upon record some humourous accounts of the manner of 
 erecting them. The foundation being first dug out, and a row or 
 two of stones laid, there was procured from a contiguous pit as 
 
CASTLES AND VILLAGES — FARMS AND COT-TOWNS. 
 
 3 
 
 much clay or brick-earth as sufficed to form the walls, a sufficient 
 quantity of straw or other litter to mix with the clay, and upon 
 a given day, the entire neighbourhood, male and female, armed 
 with pitchforks, spades or other implements, began some to work 
 the clay or mud by mixing it with the straw, others to carry the 
 materials, and half-a-dozen perhaps of the most experienced hands 
 to manage the building of the walls. In this manner the walls of 
 the house were usually finished within a few hours. The parties 
 celebrated the completion of their work witli a dinner and a dance, 
 converting the occasion, which in the south was called a daubing, 
 from a very dirty and disagreeable job into a sort of frolic. Not- 
 withstanding all this, we find the writer of the old Statistical Ac- 
 count of Legerwood Parish, in Berwickshire, rejoicing at the same 
 period over the change for the better then existing, as contrasted 
 with the time when, saving ecclesiastical edifices, there were no 
 buildings in this country but the fortress and the cottage. M More- 
 ham," near Haddington, is for example a name supposed to imply 
 the existence of a castle with its large (more) village (ham ), botli 
 long since swept away, but which had they remained, would have 
 formed a striking contrast with the farm-houses of Legerwood at 
 the time alluded to, of two storeys in height, handsomely and com- 
 fortably fitted up within, with a square of offices and a kitchen 
 garden contiguous ; and with the houses of the hinds, snug, dry 
 and comfortable, affording to these honest labourers better domes- 
 tic accommodation than the greatest noblemen enjoyed, five or six 
 centuries previous, in the strongest and most spacious of their 
 castles, whose ruins we still admire. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, that the improvements in agriculture, 
 by dictating the amelioration of the labourer's condition, are but 
 restoring what they were in many instances the cause of taking 
 away. This was not so much the case in the eastern Border coun- 
 ties, as in Forfarshire and the central counties of Scotland, where 
 the first result of the improvement of tillage being the enlarge- 
 ment of farms, and tenants being restricted more or less from 
 subsetting, these circumstances contributed in a great degree to 
 the removal of cottages. Up to that time, every farm had a large 
 proportion of useful cottage dependants — each family of these 
 
4 
 
 " COTTAGE REFORM " PROCLAIMED IN 1795. 
 
 enjoying a house, garden and cow's grass, and being subject to the 
 call of the farmer for performance of the farm-work, at the rate 
 of wages current in the country. The extension of farms and 
 extinction of cot-towns drove out this class of labourers, and ren- 
 dered country servants what they are still, wherever they are not 
 established in respectability and comfort — expensive, scarce, and 
 bad. Of old, in the parish of Whittinghame (East Lothian), there 
 seems to have prevailed, as in many instances there still prevails, 
 a conflict of opinion regarding the maintenance of cot-houses. 
 Towards the end of last century, most of the cot-houses in that 
 parish had been pulled down, the farmers being of opinion, that 
 the advantages arising from them were greatly overbalanced by 
 the expense of keeping them up. One farmer, however, judged 
 differently ; he kept up all his cot-houses, thinking that it would 
 contribute much to his convenience, to have always plenty of 
 people on the spot ready to assist on any emergency. 
 
 a A country life," says an old writer, " was the original desti- 
 nation of man, is the most favourable to wealth and population, 
 and ought on every account to meet with all possible encourage- 
 ment and protection." Accordingly, we find that although we now 
 require to improve upon their improvements, our predecessors 
 were far from rejecting the necessity of doing in that way what- 
 ever their ideas of life and the means at their disposal suggested. 
 Cottage reform itself is no new cry in Scotland. It was raised by 
 the venerable minister of Auchterhouse in 1795, complaining that 
 the villages in his parish were, like all the other villages in the 
 country, built in the most irregular manner, consisting generally 
 of houses of the meanest construction. He urged, that it was 
 much to be regretted, the lower class of the people — a numerous, 
 useful, and virtuous body — were not more comfortably lodged ; 
 and that after toiling hard during the day, they should come home 
 to be involved in smoke and filth. This evil he predicted with 
 an accuracy, of which the fulfilment of the prophecy in our own 
 day speaks strongly, would remain till the proprietors of land 
 resolved to build at their own expense all the houses necessary, 
 for the good accommodation of the people upon their estates; 
 estimating that by so doing, they should gain, as he considers, two 
 
BALEDGARNO — BAMBURGH — BORDER MOVEMENT. 
 
 5 
 
 and-a-half per cent., beautify the country, and augment the hap- 
 piness of those persons, by whose industry and labour they enjoyed 
 ease, affluence, and splendour. It appeared to the worthy minister 
 not a little surprising, that the gentry had been so long inattentive 
 to their own interest and the comfort of their fellow-creatures. 
 Upon this task the proprietors of our own day seem extensively 
 to have resolved; and the attention bestowed upon the improve- 
 ment of farm-dwellings, and indeed of farm-buildings generally, 
 is highly creditable to the enlightenment and liberality of the age. 
 Prior periods were not however totally devoid of brilliant instances 
 of the same spirit, an example whereof was given in the village 
 of Baledgarno, in the Carse of Gowrie, where the farmers formerly 
 preferred employing their cottagers to hired servants. The late 
 Lord Kinnaird, so early as 1790, had here built houses to accom- 
 modate eighteen families, each of them having two fire apart* 
 ments, and all of them covered with blue slates — this being but 
 the commencement of a plan of more than thrice the extent, in 
 conformity with which all the old village houses were pulled 
 down, and a new village, with accommodation for sixty families, 
 substituted in its stead. 
 
 The Bamburgh Cottages, one of which is figured in the 
 Appendix [Plate XLVIII.] are remarkable examples of cottage 
 improvement of an early date, almost upon the model of the 
 present day ; for so tenacious is habit, that the chief obstacle 
 with which the venerable Archdeacon Thorp had then to contend, 
 viz., the prejudice in favour of close beds, connected with a severe 
 climate and insufficient houses, has not even yet been surmounted, 
 although space was only reserved for their reception by this cot- 
 tage improver of 1809, in the belief that it could be subsequently 
 adapted for more convenient furniture. 
 
 In cannot therefore be denied, that improvements were thus 
 effected in the construction of rural dwellings ; yet these novel 
 habitations for the peasantry were few and far between. So late 
 as 1841, the Rev. Dr. Gilly of Norham (of whose exertions in the 
 cause, commencing at that period with the publication of his well 
 known tract, "The Peasantry of the Border," it would be impos- 
 sible to speak too highly), quotes the expression of a correspon- 
 
6 LORD ROSEBERY'S COTTAGES — HIGHLAND SOCIETY'S REPORT. 
 
 dent, who about five or six years before had been spending the 
 summer at Oxendean, near Dunse, after an absence of twelve years 
 from his native country, but who amidst his astonishment at the 
 advance that had been made during that period in rural improve- 
 ment of every kind, felt obliged to exclude from commendation 
 the hinds' cottages, which he found just as he had left them, with 
 a few honourable exceptions. If we mistake not, Admiral the 
 late Sir David Milne of Milnegraden, had before or about that 
 time, effected great improvements on the row of old cottages on 
 the public road facing Milnegraden gate, preparatory to replacing 
 them with new buildings. In the Highland and Agricultural 
 Society's Report, on improving the lodging of the peasantry, of 
 about the same date, it was stated, that in all parts of Scotland 
 the lodging of the peasantry was generally so contracted and so 
 destitute of every thing like convenience, as to render proper or 
 economical arrangement nearly impracticable. "These defects were 
 forcibly noticed by the Earl of Rosebery, at the general meeting 
 of the Society in 1839 ; and for the information of other pro- 
 prietors, his lordship obligingly allowed the plans and specifica- 
 tions of the cottages, which he had erected upon his own estate, 
 to appear in the forty-fourth number of the Transactions. As an 
 inducement to follow so good an example, medals have been 
 offered by the Society to proprietors for building cottages of a 
 good construction, and these medals are already in demand. This 
 subject was again brought forward by the Marquis of Tweeddale, 
 who filled the chair at the last general meeting, and throughout 
 the whole of Scotland it is attracting increasing attention. The 
 style of such buildings is every where improving, and the measures 
 of the Society will make the countiy acquainted with the best 
 methods." — (Report of Highland and Agricultural Society.) Such 
 then was the origin of the improvements in cottage accommoda- 
 tion, dating from 1839. The Highland Society had previously 
 offered rewards for the best kept cottages only — not for the best 
 construction. But, in 1839, and subsequent years, the honorary 
 silver medal was also offered, at least in the counties of Ayr 
 and Perth, if not generally, as a premium to the proprietor who 
 should have erected on his estate the best and approved cot- 
 
ROSEBERY COTTAGE PLANS. 
 
 7 
 
 tage ; and the gold medal to the proprietor who should have 
 erected on his estate the greatest number of approved cottages. 
 Amongst the conditions taken into account in estimating the 
 claims of these competitors were — the situation, with reference to 
 amenity of climate and aspect — the means of drainage and preser- 
 vation of cleanliness — the adaptation of the structure to withstand 
 the climate of the district — the interior accommodation and ar- 
 rangement of out-houses attached — the smallness of cost compared 
 with sufficiency or durability and extent of accommodation, but 
 allowing for variations in the prices of materials and other circum- 
 stances in different districts — and finally, the outward appearance 
 of the cottages. This was a step in the right direction, taken 
 under powerful auspices, but not until it was urgently required. 
 "I am building and have built new cottages," said a noble lord, 
 writing to the Rev. Dr. Gilly ; " and there has already been a 
 great improvement in Scotland in my time, but there is yet many 
 a wretched hovel that would disgrace Ireland, which is Baying 
 much." 
 
 Plans and elevations of the farm cottages erected on the Earl 
 of Rosebery's estates are included in the selection published in the 
 First General Sanitary Report of 1842 ; and it may here be men- 
 tioned, that these early models, consisting of a ground floor only 
 with lofts above, are generally built in blocks or pairs, with inter- 
 mediate screen-wall and entry through it to the gardens behind ; 
 on either hand of which entry are the respective coal and potato 
 houses (8 x 5),* ash-pits and privies of the contiguous abodes. At 
 places where only two cottages are built, the coal houses, ash-pits 
 and privy are sometimes placed behind the cottages. The ground 
 floor is entered by a porch, on either hand of which is a pantry 
 of about the same dimensions (4 x 4-2), lighted by a narrow front 
 window; on the other, the kitchen, with double beds (16 x 12.3), 
 lighted by a square front window, and a bed-room leading there- 
 from (ll .6x7), lighted by a medium width of back window. 
 The elevation is plain and simple but symmetrical. Lord Rose- 
 bery's improved cottages, with two rooms each, coal-holes, asli- 
 
 * In our measurements, the clots over the figures will indicate Feet and Inches. 
 Thus, 6-5 — six feet five inches. 
 
8 CLOSEBURN COTTAGES — IMPROVED COTTAGE WINDOWS. 
 
 pits, pantries, &c, generally cost from £75 to £85 a pair, exclu- 
 sive of carriage. 
 
 Perhaps especial notice should here be taken of the Close- 
 burn Cottages, erected in Dumfries-shire by the late Sir T. Stewart 
 Monteath, Bart., for the labourers on his estate. Each cottage of; 
 thirty-six feet in front cost £70 ; the two principal ground-floor 
 rooms (kitchen and parlour) being each sixteen feet square and 
 eight feet in height. The elevation is elegant, and the roof being 
 high-pitched to admit of two very small dormer windows, two 
 garrets used as sleeping rooms are thus obtained. The exterior 
 accommodations ranged immediately behind, consist of — 1st, neces- 
 sary; 2d, coal, wood and peat-house ; 3d, scullery, 4th, larder; and 
 5th, cowhouse. The characteristic improvement is the warming 
 apparatus. Behind the kitchen fire is placed an iron box of strongs 
 sheet or plate iron, forming the back of the fire-place. A passage 
 or pipe of stone, brick or iron, opened through the wall below the 
 floor, admits a current of cold air to the iron box, which being 
 heated by the kitchen fire, warms also the adjoining parlour into 
 which the box projects. A hot air-pipe also ascends from the 
 iron box, and warms the two garret rooms above, into each of 
 which the heated air escapes by gratings. Thus one fire-place 
 is made to warm two apartments on the same floor, and by 
 means of an iron pipe, warm air is conveyed into the two garrets 
 above. 
 
 We have referred to the appearance of the windows, be- 
 cause as stated in the Highland and Agricultural Society's Eeport 
 already quoted, the window was their first object of improvement, 
 always forming one of the principal subjects of charge, and having 
 been generally one of the worst constructed parts of the build- 
 ing. The entire absence of windows in the huts of the Highland, 
 peasantry, and the want of facilities for their repair in the more; 
 improved parts of the country, although, even there, seldom large 
 enough to admit of a sufficiency of light, and never provided with 
 the means of ventilation, are stated to have occasioned recourse to 
 the most unseemly substitutes to stuff the apertures, till one eyesore 
 prepared for another, and in a short time the same slovenliness 
 and disorder spread over the whole establishment. In awarding 
 
NORTHUMBERLAND COTTAGE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY. 
 
 8 
 
 a premium for the best cottage window, cast iron appeared to 
 be the material least liable to objection ; and the gainers of the 
 premium, Messrs. Moses M'Culloch & Co., Gallowgatc, Glasgow, 
 furnished such windows, adapted for farm-houses and work-shops 
 as well as cottages, but without the wooden frames, at 5s. a 
 piece. This window is reported to be extremely simple in its 
 construction, efficient in point of comfort and utility, the price not 
 higher than the cheapest description of our windows, and for 
 durability, preferable to any other material. The dimensions re- 
 commended for the windows of ordinary cottages are 39 in height 
 and 24 in width, within the wooden frames. The size of glass 
 required is, 7i x b\. The sash is divided into two unequal parts, 
 the lower part having three squares in height and the upper two ; 
 the lower being permanently fixed, but the upper constructed to 
 turn vertically on pivots. We may mention in passing, that essen- 
 tial as the proper construction of windows may be to the health 
 of the occupants, in nothing does there obtain perhaps more di- 
 versity, owing to the differences of taste and the varied styles of; 
 building. In the examples given in the following pages, the 
 windows are generally either hung in sashes and raised with cord, 
 weight and pulley in the usual manner, or calculated simply to 
 open upon hinges and fasten with a latch. The Northumberland 
 Cottage Improvement Society, in its Report of 1842, seems to have 
 come to the conclusion, that "All cottage windows should be made 
 to open, and should be so constructed, as to lift up like a sash 
 window, and then to open inwards," whilst Mr. Can* of Iledgeley 
 lays it down in another part of the same publication, that "All 
 windows should be of adequate size, and made to slide right and 
 left, rather than up and down, in order to avoid the sudden shocks 
 by which glass is so often broken." 
 
 In sketching the progress of improvement in Rural Architec- 
 ture, we need make no apology for dwelling more particularly on 
 that branch of the subject which has by no means escaped the 
 solicitude of royalty itself, in a manner all but prophetically an- 
 ticipated by an estimable Northumbrian clergyman, the Rev. E. 
 Feilde, in 1842, when he said at Alnwick "that it had been said 
 of an emperor of ancient times, that he found Rome of briek and 
 
10 
 
 REV. DR. GILLY'S DESCRIPTION OF HIND'S COTTAGES. 
 
 left it of marble, and although the phrase might not be eloquent, 
 he yet hoped it might be said of our gracious Queen, that she 
 found the cottages of her peasantry in decay, and left them 
 weather-tight, substantial erections." It is proper, therefore, to 
 describe the state of our former and many existing cottages, for 
 the sake of contrasting it with the improvements that have been 
 effected; and nowhere could we borrow more graphic language 
 than that of the Be v. Dr. Gilly, whose picture of the hinds' hovels 
 of his district has been so frequently drawn upon for similar 
 purposes : — 
 
 "They are built," says he, "of rubble or of unhewn stone, 
 loosely cemented ; and from age, or from the badness of the mate- 
 rials, the walls look as if they would scarcely hold together.* 
 The chinks gape open in so many places and so widely, that they 
 freely admit not only the breath of the gentle Zephyr, but the 
 fierce blasts of the rude Boreas ; and the Pyramus of one tenement 
 may whisper his compliments, and almost put in his whole hand, 
 and press that of the rustic Thisbe in the contiguous hovel. The 
 chimneys have lost half their original height, and lean on the roof 
 with fearful gravitation ; the rafters are evidently rotten and dis- 
 placed; and the thatch yawning to admit the wind and wet in 
 some parts, and in all parts utterly unfit for its original purpose, 
 of giving protection from the weather, looks more like the top of 
 a dunghill than of a cottage. 
 
 " Such is the exterior, and when the hind comes home to 
 take possession, he finds it no better than a shed. The wet, if it 
 happens to rain, is making a puddle on the earth floor. (This 
 earth floor, by the by, is one of the causes to which Erasmus 
 ascribed the frequent recurrence of epidemic sickness among the 
 
 * " Wood and wattled houses, such as our forefathers built," says a Lancashire 
 gentleman, quoted in Mr. Chadwick's General Sanitary Eeport, " are the driest and 
 warmest of all ; brick is inferior in both these requisites of a comfortable house ; but 
 stone, especially the unhewn stone as it is necessarily employed for cottages, is the 
 very worst material possible for the purpose. I prefer the Irish mud cottages." We 
 do not ; and although this gentleman goes on to argue at great length against stone 
 cottages as liable to damp, experience convinces us, that a well built cottage of this 
 material, must in every respect be the most substantial and comfortable. — Editor. 
 
REV. DR. GILLY'S DESCRIPTION OF HIND'S COTTAGES. 11 
 
 cottars of England more than 300 years ago.) It is not only cold 
 and wet, but contains the aggregate filth of years from the time of 
 its first being used. The refuse and dropping of meals, decayed 
 animal and vegetable matter of all kinds, which has been cast 
 upon it from the mouth and stomach, these all mix together and 
 exude from it. Window-frame there is none. There is neither 
 oven, nor copper, nor grate, nor shelf, nor fixture of any kind ; 
 all these things he has to bring with him, besides his ordinary 
 articles of furniture. Imagine the trouble, the inconvenience and 
 the expense which the poor fellow and his wife have to encounter 
 before they put this shell of a hut into any thing like a habitable 
 form. This year, I saw a family of eight — husband, wife, two 
 sons and four daughters — who were in utter discomfort and de- 
 spair, of putting themselves in a decent condition, three or four 
 weeks after they had come into one of these hovels. In vain did 
 they try to stop up the crannies, and to fill up the holes in the 
 floor, and to arrange their furniture in tolerably decent order, and 
 to keep out the weather. Alas, what will they not suffer in the 
 winter ! There will be no fireside enjoyments for them. Tliey 
 may huddle together for warmth, and heap coals on the fire ; but 
 they will have chilly beds and a damp hearth stone ; and the cold 
 wind will sweep through their dismal apartment, and the icicles 
 will hang by the wall ; and the snow will drift through the roof 
 and window, and crazy door-place, in spite of all their endeavours 
 to exclude it. 
 
 " The general character of the old-fashioned hinds' cottages 
 of this neighbourhood is bad at the best. They have to bring 
 every thing with them — partitions, window-frames, fixtures of 
 all kinds, grates, and a substitute for ceiling; for they are, as I 
 have already called them, mere sheds. They have no byre for 
 their cows nor styes for their pigs ; no pumps or wells ; nothing to 
 promote cleanliness or comfort. The average size of these sheds is 
 about 24 x 16. They are dark and unwholesome. The windows 
 do not open, and many of them are not larger than 20 x 16. 
 And into this space are crowded eight, ten, and even twelve per- 
 sons. How they lie down to rest, how they sleep, how they can 
 preserve common decency, how unutterable horrors are avoided, 
 
12 DUDDO, GRINDON, AND THORNTON IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 is beyond all conception. The case is aggravated, when there is 
 a young woman to be lodged in this confined space, who is not a 
 member of the family, but is hired to do the field-work for which 
 every hind is bound to provide a female. It shocks every feeling 
 of propriety, to think that in a room, and within such a space as 
 I have been describing, civilized beings should be herding together 
 without a decent separation of age and sex. So long as the agri- 
 cultural system in this district requires the hind to find room 
 for a fellow-servant of the other sex in his cabin, the least that 
 morality and decency can demand, is, that he should have a second 
 apartment, where the unmarried female, and those of a tender age, 
 should sleep apart from him and his wife." 
 
 Having suffered this eminent authority fully to describe the 
 revolting condition of the unimproved cottages, we may now turn 
 round to contemplate the steps adopted to remedy such appalling 
 evils, with a perfect assurance of being able to appreciate the 
 motives and advantages of cottage improvement. 
 
 Even when Dr. Gilly wrote, he was enabled to refer to a 
 well-built range of dwellings in his own neighbourhood at Duddo, 
 though each with only a single room, but of good size, and every 
 tenement its separate byre and pig- stye ; and to a whole township, 
 nearly rebuilt at Grindon, each cottage with two rooms, cow- 
 byre, pig-stye, &c, still destitute of ceilings or good floors; but 
 the new cottages to which he then directed especial attention, and 
 which so far obtained it, as to be speedily emulated in many other 
 quarters, were those composing a group of six" cottages, then re- 
 cently built by the trustees of Lord Crewe's Institution, on their 
 property at Thornton park, being improvements upon the original 
 model of the Bamburgh Cottage of 1809, described and figured in 
 our Appendix, Plate XLVIII. " Each," says their encomiast, 
 " has two rooms ceiled, with a small passage between them. The 
 larger is 17.8 by 15, 8; the smaller is 15.8 by 10. The height of 
 each room is 9.3, and is ventilated by a window which opens and 
 is 4 . 4 high by 3 . 2 wide. The flooring of the rooms is well-laid, 
 broad flagging. The principal apartment has a grate, an oven, 
 and a furnace-pot as fixtures. The smaller rooms have a grate 
 only. Besides these, there is a small dairy, pantry, and coal-house 
 
NORTHUMBERLAND COTTAGE IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 13 
 
 to each cottage, and the whole is roofed with slate and spouted. 
 Behind the cottage there is a yard, containing a cow-byre, pig- 
 stye, a convenience of another kind and an ash or dung-pit ; and 
 in front of it, a garden 62 x 31 wide, planted with four apple 
 trees and one pear tree. The situation has no beauty of scenery 
 to recommend it, but the moral charm is attractive beyond ex- 
 pression. Every comfort, every convenience, has been supplied 
 which the benevolence and thoughtfulness of kind-hearted land- 
 lords could devise, and the whole aspect (with the capital farm- 
 house and offices adjoining, in which nothing that the agriculturist 
 requires is wanting for himself, his family, his cattle, or the pro- 
 duction of his land) is one of cheerfulness and content. The 
 interior of the cottages, swept and garnished, proves that a good 
 cottage is an invitation to the cleanliness and thriftincss of its 
 occupants', and the fact that hinds continue longer on this pro- 
 perty than on most others, speaks equally well for landlords, 
 farmers and cottagers. The Thornton Park Cottages, with their 
 several offices, are more costly, perhaps, than is necessary. £106, 
 I believe, was the expense of each." We may mention, that they 
 are all built in a uniform block or line. 
 
 Many other cottages were shortly erected in this border dis- 
 trict, amongst which may be instanced those on the property of 
 the Marquis of Waterford at Ford, in Northumberland : in a range 
 of eight, each consisting of one room 18.4 x 15.7, with porch and 
 pantry, the materials employed being stone, slate, timber, and the 
 cost per cottage, £54, 9s. Those in a more ornamental style, each 
 with two rooms and back offices, 17 x 12 . 2, and 16.4 x 12 . 2, cost 
 £71, 10s. Such had been the benefit of this improvement, that 
 in an address by the villagers to the noble Marquis on the subject, 
 they said, "My lord, heretofore our village was in a state of dila- 
 pidation, scarcely to be described; our streets, if we may use the 
 expression, were full of dunghills and stepping stones; now we 
 have a parterre at almost every cottage, with beautiful walks and 
 terraces, and other rural ornaments, where formerly there were 
 stagnant pools covered with a mantle of green." And the initia- 
 tory meeting of the Cottage Improvement Society of Northumber- 
 land, was signalized by votes of thanks to Mr. Blackden, as agent 
 
14 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND COTTAGE IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 to Lord Waterford, in the improvement of the cottages at Ford, to 
 the Bev. Dr. Gilly, for his exertions in the cause, and to Lord 
 Frederick Fitzclarence for his illustration of cottage improvement 
 at Etal. This lovely and reclaimed rural retreat, held up as 
 the pattern of what a village ought to be, is chiefly distinguished 
 by its floral culture; for the majority of the cottages, though 
 smothered in picturesque beauty, being hardly susceptible of archi- 
 tectural improvement, without being pulled down, have cramped 
 and confined interiors, at variance with the leading doctrine to be 
 proclaimed in works like the present. Still Etal possesses the merit 
 of having shown an early and a useful example of beautifying 
 our rustic abodes with flowers. At a meeting, however, for in- 
 spection of the Etal improvements, held during the Highland and 
 Agricultural Society's meeting at Berwick-upon-Tweed, a group 
 of cottages, which had recently been put in order attracted notice, 
 as having, a few weeks before, been miserable hovels, but now 
 converted into comfortable habitations, each with a garden in 
 front, and proper conveniences behind. A range of ten cottages, 
 with offices of stone, slate, and timber, were also erected by 
 Wm. Moffatt, Esq., in the parish of Ednam, Eoxburghshire, each 
 having one room 22 x 16, and a chamber above, at a cost of £53 
 each. In Durham and Yorkshire, cottages, consisting each of 
 three small rooms with pantry and wash-house — kitchen 14 x 13, 
 bed-room 13 x 11, bed-room 11 x 7 — all of stone, slate, and tim- 
 ber, had been found to cost £77, 19s. 6d. per pair, exclusive of 
 carriage. Near Burnham, Norfolk, cottages in pairs, each having 
 two rooms — kitchen 12 x 10, bed-room 8x6, with small bake- 
 house — of bricks, tiles, and timber, had been put up at £70 per 
 pair ; and others of one room each 12 x 12, with bake-house and 
 pantry, and two chambers above of the same materials, at from 
 £90 to £100 the pair. Mr. Baker Cresswell, at East Lilburn, 
 had also built improved cottages, which were distinguished by an 
 arrangement, where the ashes were disposed of through loop holes 
 in a wall, built to conceal all that was offensive, the wall itself 
 running parallel to the cottages, but upon the opposite side of the 
 cart-way passing by the doors. It also appeared, that in Berwick- 
 shire, cottages in pairs had been erected on the estates of Spot- 
 
NORTHUMBERLAND COTTAGE IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 15 
 
 tiswoode, Laws, Ladykirk, and Marchmont, on estimates varying 
 from £48 to £53 each. 
 
 Subsequent to their meeting of 22d October, 1841, the com- 
 mittee of the Cottage Improvement Society for North Northum- 
 berland, put forth a Report of Improvements, communicated dur- 
 ing the year, which besides general hints on the construction 
 of cottages, relating chiefly to sites, floors, windows, ceilings, 
 roofs, chimneys, and necessaries, endeavoured to suggest the grand 
 desideratum, of " the best cottage at the lowest price," and plans 
 of four were shown, having a principal room 15 x 7, with the 
 two beds behind a partition, and each a second apartment or 
 back shed 6x7, wide enough to hold one bed across, as well as 
 a back door, and the cost of building only £54, 9s. each cottage. 
 A single cottage, with upper room and detached back premises, 
 such as store room 10 .2x5, pig's-house and yard, necessaiy, ash- 
 pit, and coal-hole, was also figured at a cost of £67, 12. These 
 were the "best cottages at the lowest price." Whether they ever 
 were erected at the money we cannot tell ; although we may 
 venture to express some doubt on the subject, notwithstanding 
 the limited extent of accommodation offered, by finding in juxta 
 position with them the estimates and sketches of " A Working 
 Man " (and even these not practically tested), where designs of a 
 far more meagre character are, exclusive of the leading or carry- 
 ing of all materials, calculated to cost for one apartment 18 square, 
 stair, and offices below, and comfortable large bed-room (attic) 
 above, £159, Gs. 7d. a pair, being £79, 13s. 3-£d. each; and a 
 second pair of small cottages, £122, 18s. Id., or £61, 9s. O^d. each. 
 The elegant little cottages at Howick, answer much to these esti- 
 mates and dimensions; but must have cost a good deal more in 
 the erection, for the larger have dormer windows in the roof, 
 which become a great deal more expensive, by causing the roof 
 to be formed with gutters, laid with lead, whereas in the above 
 estimate, skylights are supposed to be introduced into the upper 
 rooms, it being hardly practicable, where the wall above the floor 
 is low, to introduce windows with any degree of neatness or 
 comfort. 
 
 Mr. Ralph Can* of Hedgeley, presents an account of an upper 
 
16 
 
 HENHAM AND HOLKHAM IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 storey, added about three years previously to three cottages there, 
 and also to two others, connected with the farm steading, but no 
 statement of expense is given. 
 
 The more prominent of the early examples of cottage improve- 
 ment in England are (1.) The erections of the Earl of Stradbroke 
 at Henham, near Halesworth, in Suffolk; (2.) Those of the Earl 
 of Leicester at Holkham ; (3.) Those of Mr. Benyon de Beauvoir 
 a village of fifty cottages, called Culford, five miles from Bury 
 St. Edmonds ; and last not least, (4.) The labourers' cottages, 
 newly erected, altered, or improved, on the estate of Gregory 
 Gregory, Esq., at Harlaxton, near Grantham, to which the late 
 Mr. Loudon directed so much attention. 
 
 (1.) Earl Stradbroke's are cottages ornees, built of brick, 
 roofed with tiles, of at least four rooms on one floor, and with all 
 proper conveniences, pantries, cupboard, and out-offices; they 
 are scarcely a model for the economist, however remarkable as 
 improvements. 
 
 (2.) The Earl of Leicester's are, characteristically enough, 
 the most substantial and comfortable to be found in any part of 
 England. The plans comprise eight cottages, in three sets, two 
 of two cottages each, and one of four cottages, rented inclusive of 
 a garden, at £3, 3s. per annum. The cottages of 1819 have each 
 a front room 17 x 12, and from 7 to 7.6 high ; a back kitchen of 
 same height 13 x 9, together with a pantry on same floor. Above 
 these are three bed-rooms, which in different proportions cover 
 the same space as the ground floor. At a convenient distance 
 behind, are dust-bin, privy, and pig-cot. The cost, per pair, is 
 stated at £220 to £230; and twenty roods of garden ground 
 being given along with each, it is evident that these cottages 
 must be cited as additional instances of the zeal of " Coke of 
 Norfolk," as a landed proprietor, taking pride in good cottages 
 and farms, rather than in fine, hunters and racers — for £6 a-year 
 would be more like the minimum rent for the outlay than £3 ; 
 but whilst the labourer's wages, where he is paid in money, can- 
 not be computed to exceed 12s. a week, it is highly improbable 
 he could expend 2s. 3§d., or nearly a fifth of his weekly earnings, 
 on cottage rent. 
 
IIARLAXTON — MR. J. C. LOUDON'S MODEL COTTAGE. 
 
 17 
 
 (3.) The Culford Cottages approach more nearly to the re- 
 munerative principle. This remarkable village was built within 
 the last thirty years, by Mr. Benyon de Beauvoir. Built of 
 brick, faced with blue flint stones, harmonizing admirably with 
 their blue slate roofs, the external appearance of the whole fifty 
 is extremely pretty. Each has four rooms (two above and two 
 below), pantry, and cupboard. They are constructed in two sets, 
 one of double and one of triple tenements. The principal room 
 is 14 x 12, and 7 high, being inferior in size to the cottage rooms 
 of Holkham; there are also only two bed-rooms for the Holkham 
 three. A wooden building, roofed with tiles, at the distance of a 
 few feet from each set of cottages, comprises a privy, a space for 
 fuel, and a common oven. The average cost of these cottages 
 was £85 each. They are rented at from £2, 10s. to £3, 3s. 
 
 (4.) Harlaxton is decidedly an ornamented village, and the 
 designs and elevations of its cottages are varied with effective 
 taste. A treble cottage for three families, where the estimate, 
 including all expenses and outbuildings, does not exceed £280, 
 affords, in each case, a living room of from 12 to 14, by from 13 
 to 1*7; pantry and staircase on the ground, and three sleeping 
 apartments of various dimensions on the chamber floor. 
 
 The late Mr. J. C. Loudon, to whose opinions much defer- 
 ence has ever been paid by cottage improvers, suggested to the 
 Sanitary Commissioners of 1842, a model agriculturist cottage for 
 the north of England and Scotland, where it is customary to have 
 the sleeping room on the ground floor. The walls were to be 
 eighteen inches thick, and the roof thatched, as being the wannest 
 covering in a cold bleak country. The front entrance was by a 
 porch, which contained a step-ladder to the garrets (see illustra- 
 tion of our improved folding step-ladder in Appendix), which being 
 lighted by windows in the gable ends, might be used as sleeping 
 places for grown up children, while the younger children might 
 sleep below in the same room with their parents. The whole 
 floors were made to slope at the rate of one inch to seven feet, to 
 the sill of the back kitchen door, so that no water could stand <>n 
 any part of them. The surface of the yard also sloped from the 
 entrance-door to a liquid manure tank. The back kitchen wafl 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND'S THOUSAND. 
 
 entered by one step, the terrace in front by three, and the porch 
 by half a step. These suggestions are very good wherever prac- 
 ticable ; and the Commissioners considered them to comprise " the 
 best examples of tenements in occupation, well approved on trial," 
 that had come under observation during their inquiry. 
 
 Enough has certainly now been said on the subject of cot- 
 tages, to indicate the direction in which this important move- 
 ment started ; and it would obviously be a matter of impossibility, 
 in a practical work, to offer any thing like a general enumeration 
 of all the operations that have taken place under the impulse 
 of improvement. One example, illustrative of the extent to which 
 these are carried even by individual proprietors, has been made 
 public within the last few months. In the Aihenceum of 29th 
 November, 1851, it is stated, that — 
 
 " The cottage reform is gradually swelling into a national 
 movement. It began with Howard. It was taken up shortly 
 afterwards by the Whitbreads, and others, as a delegated duty. 
 But the living generation — the race of fox-hunting, roaring, 
 roystering country squires, ' bom to drink, and vote and raise the 
 price of corn ' — had to die off before the humanities of the ques- 
 tion raised by the philanthrophist could be understood, much less 
 adopted. A race, however, has now succeeded, or is succeeding, 
 to the profits and duties of 'the Fine Old English Gentleman,' 
 which is sensible of the power of logic, and open to the influence 
 of humane ideas. Every day we see and hear evidence, that pro- 
 perty has begun to comprehend something of the spirit of the age. 
 This week we see it announced, that the Duke of Northumberland 
 has commenced the erection of a thousand new and superior cot- 
 tages on his estate in the north — thus following and strengthen- 
 ing a movement begun and carried out by others. We know of 
 no higher title to regard, even in the story of the Percies, than 
 works like this confer on a wealthy family. If we are not mis- 
 taken in the signs of the times, the day is not far distant, when 
 it will be thought more honourable to have been the builder of 
 a thousand model cottages, than the hero of a hundred fights." 
 
 Not only in our own country, but also in America, does 
 the idea of improved Eural Architecture seem to have taken root. 
 
AMERICAN RURAL ARCHITECTURE — MR. J. A. DOWNING. 
 
 19 
 
 Though far ahead of us in some matters of convenience, suggested 
 chiefly by the greater pliability of the materials employed in 
 building, and a finer climate, admitting the general use of wood 
 filled up with brick ; and although particularly distinguished by 
 the ingenuity of many of their " fittings," or domestic labour sav- 
 ing apparatus, such as rising cup-boards or dumb-waiters, speak- 
 ing tubes, and rotary pumps — the Americans, if we may judge by 
 their chief work on the subject (the enthusiastic treatise of Mr. J. 
 A. Downing), are not yet advanced beyond the old English period 
 of Rural Architecture, in which all utilitarianism was sacrificed 
 to external ornament. The bracketted verandah, the projecting 
 roof, the bay and dormer windows, and clustered chimneys, are 
 leading characteristics of the transatlantic style, in its firm ad- 
 herence to the English rural Gothic or pointed Tudor. But al- 
 though in this country, where if we can attain any thing like 
 elegance or neatness in our plain and inexpensive efforts at im- 
 provements of a more essential cast, we feel inclined to smile at 
 these ornate tendencies ; we must nevertheless admit, that in many 
 particulars, the notions of the American architect are sensible and 
 just — as where in cottage accommodation, even with apparent 
 abundance of spare room, one sitting-room and kitchen arc (with 
 bed-rooms above) held to be sufficient ; where the introduction of 
 drains and smell-traps are advised ; where the chimneys are re- 
 commended to be placed in the interior and not the exterior walls, 
 as a stack of chimneys parts rapidly with its heat in the cold 
 external air, and their draught to a great extent depends on the 
 warmth of the air column ; and where it is urged, that the light 
 should be admitted, by a few large windows, in the principal 
 apartments, to avoid the petty appearance and want of breadth of 
 expression, always caused by little windows; as well as that the 
 light should enter by two sides rather than three, cross lights 
 falling unfavourably on an interior. It is amusing, however, to 
 discover, that probably owing to the habits and social relations of 
 the country, the approved idea of a dining-hall in an American 
 country-house, consists of an enlarged dome-lighted lobby, with a 
 central circular table shut off from the other rooms, &c., by sliding 
 or folding doors. With regard to the styles in vogue, the English 
 
20 
 
 THE RURAL GOTHIC IN AMERICA. 
 
 or rural Gothic, distinguished by its tall gables, handsome verge- 
 boards and finials, its neat and fanciful chimney-tops, latticed 
 windows, &c, is recommended, by its steep roofs, for a cold coun- 
 try, liable to heavy snows. The spirit of the Gothic is in its ver- 
 tical lines — some illustration of which may be found in our plate 
 of a Cottage, designed for a gardener's lodge [Plate XL.] " One 
 of the most characteristic and beautiful features in Rural Gothic 
 Architecture," says Mr. Downing, "is the ornamental chimney- 
 shaft, sometimes rising singly, and sometimes in clusters from 
 the roof ; often plain and square, or octagonal, but frequently 
 wreathed and moulded in the most picturesque manner. The 
 finest specimens of the old English chimneys are built of 
 bricks, cast in moulds for the purpose, or stamped with orna- 
 ments." " Chimney -tops," he elsewhere notices, " since we can- 
 not dispense with them, should always be rendered ornamental, 
 as both strongly expressive of comfort — no house being tolerable 
 in a cold climate without fires — and on account of their occupying 
 the highest part of the building, and therefore being most likely 
 to strike the eye agreeably, if appropriate, or offend it if ugly and 
 unshapely in form." The gable roof or cornice is expected to 
 project twenty inches, and is supplied with feathered tracery, 
 pinacle and pendant, cut out of thick plank. The Rural Gothic 
 style affords large lofts or garrets for farm houses ; but the author 
 seems greatly to dread the perversion of the artistic execution 
 of his designs by the rude artizans of his country. " Should the 
 execution of such a design as this," he says of one of the more 
 ornamental sketches, " fall into the hands of an ordinary country 
 tradesman, without suitable working drawings from an architect, 
 the probability is, that he will destroy its beauty and character, by 
 reducing all its characteristics to the most meagre level, until all 
 the boldness and spirit of the style is lost." Mr. Downing appre- 
 hends, in fact, that he may cut the gable ornaments out of thin 
 board, make the mullions of the windows a slender veneer, reduce 
 the projection of the roof, and graceful irregularity of the ground 
 plan, to an emaciated shadow. Need we say, that an especial ad- 
 vantage of a work like the present, consists in the specifications, 
 by the terms of which all tradesmen employed in the execution of 
 
AMERICAN IDEA OF A " COMPLETE " FARMERY. 
 
 21 
 
 our designs are tied down to employ the precise description of 
 materials necessary. It will thus be seen, that the ideas of the 
 American rural architect, run entirely upon what may be desig- 
 nated villas rather than cottages, and upon style rather than 
 utility ; a tendency curiously illustrated by the fact, that a Far- 
 mery, arranged round three sides of a square, open to the south, 
 and comprising piggery ; house for garden tools ; open shed for 
 carts, ploughs, &c. ; cow-house, with three calf-pens attached at 
 the end ; barn ; stable for horses ; waggon house, and corn crib 
 (this last situated apart) — the surface of the yard descending 
 on all sides to the centre, where the manure heap is kept — is 
 described as a collection of out-buildings, much more complete 
 and extensive, than will be found connected with most farms in 
 America. By turning to Plates VIII., IX., X., XI., XII., XIII., 
 XIV., XV., XVI., XVII., and XVIII., the reader will perceive 
 how different are the demands of British husbandry. 
 
 In our present movement it cannot be denied, that the cheapest 
 construction is a leading object; and it must be admitted, that 
 even in our highest specimens of Rural Architecture, comfort and 
 convenience are primarily required, along with so much contributed 
 towards taste, beauty, or ornament, as may not be incompatible 
 with a moderate cost. Our American author expresses anxiety, 
 that every one who lives in the country, and in a country-house, 
 should in some degree be conversant with domestic Architecture, 
 not only because it will be likely to improve for each individual 
 the comfort of his own house, and hence all the houses of the 
 country, but also because it will enlarge the mind and provide 
 new sources of enjoyment. Superior convenience, he anticipates, 
 may be "realized" by familiar acquaintance with what will con- 
 duce to it. Nay, he recommends — though with us it may be 
 thought to savour somewhat of Bloom erUm — that ladies who best 
 understand the principle of convenience should acquire architec- 
 tural knowledge. We notice these views of Mr. Downing, chiefly 
 for the sake of culling a few of his axioms, which, so far as t< Minded 
 on such sentiments, appear to us remarkably valuable, lie holds, 
 that the beautiful in every thing that relates to our houses and 
 grounds, may awaken a quicker sense of the grace, elegance, and 
 
22 
 
 MR. DOWNING ON " FITNESS " IN BUILDINGS. 
 
 picturesqueness of fine forms, which are capable of being produced 
 by Sural Architecture and Landscape Gardening. Thus although 
 the square or parallelogram is the most economical form in which 
 a house can be built, and a small house does not easily admit of 
 irregularities ; yet he thinks, that the cultivated variations and 
 elegancies of style may gradually come into request. The taste- 
 ful cottage or villa, the well designed and neatly kept grounds, 
 or garden, he asserts, may be had at the same cost, and with the 
 same labour as a clumsy dwelling, with uncouth and ill-designed 
 accessories ; and an unfailing barrier against vice, immorality, 
 and bad habits, is a home to which the inhabitant turns with 
 delight, as the scene of his fondest labours and enjoyments. The 
 principal rooms or apartments of a house, he recommends, should 
 be situated on the most favourable side or aspect, in order to be 
 light, warm, or airy, and to command the finest prospects. Fit- 
 ness, however, is the first principle of all buildings ; therefore 
 it is, that he holds the sleeping apartments, kitchen, and other 
 conveniences, should be on the same floor with the living-room 
 or parlour, for greater domestic convenience, ease, and comfort, as 
 presented in the example already given of the cottages at Holk- 
 ham. The dining-room should be accommodated with a pantry 
 or large closet ; the drawing-room, or finest apartment, should 
 possess the most beautiful views. The library, as in our manse, 
 [Plates XLII. & XLIIL], should occupy the most secluded posi- 
 tion in the house. In short, a building, by its whole appearance, 
 should suggest the end in view, or the purpose for which it is in- 
 tended, as a church does by its steeple, or a barn by its large 
 plain doors; although this unity of design is violated by many 
 country-houses, with elegant colonnades in front, bare sides, and 
 no sort of enrichment in the windows. Such are the leading 
 views of Mr. Downing, to which we have given the more ample 
 expression, that the book is not likely to find its way into 
 general circulation in this country ; in fact, it is unsuited for 
 Rural Architecture in character, and for practical purposes in 
 its details. 
 
 An English work has just appeared, suggesting the designs, and 
 estimating the cost of cottage erections, under the taking-enough 
 
mr. j. w. stevenson's <; cottage homes." 
 
 23 
 
 title of " The Cottage Homes of England," of which H. R. H. 
 Prince Albert, we are told, has " ordered a copy to be added to 
 the library of Buckingham Palace." The author, Mr. John W. 
 Stevenson, of Newark-upon-Trent, is one of those, who think that 
 very much remains to be done to elevate the working classes, by 
 providing for them better cottage homes and dwellings. He acknow- 
 ledges, to the credit of a portion of the English aristocracy, that 
 several villages and mansions, in the immediate vicinity of their 
 dwellings, present endeavours of this kind; and is of opinion, that 
 nothing would have a greater tendency to improve the circum- 
 stances of the working man, than building for him a comfortable 
 and convenient home, and surrounding him with elevating asso- 
 ciations. He argues in favour of comfort, that on return from his 
 daily toil, the working man should come to a cottage, whence 
 disease would be banished, to which cheerful appearances would 
 attach him, and from which care should be excluded ; in favour of 
 convenience, as essential to contentment; in favour of recreation, 
 that the mind of the labourer may be improved at home, and 
 his attention occupied by his garden, his books, or his children, 
 instead of his moments being squandered in idleness or drunk- 
 enness; and in favour of profit from garden produce, alike for 
 the sake of being praised for his trouble and care in cultivation, 
 and for the more substantial rewards at gathering time. This 
 author even advances the proposition, that it would be a wise 
 and happy legislation, to enact laws for the construction of tene- 
 ments, cottages, and residences for all classes, anticipating that the 
 streams of idleness, debauchery, and crime, might thus be drive n 
 back, by opposing currents of industry, frugality, and indepen- 
 dence. As an argument for improving the dwellings of the 
 cottager and working man, he also asserts, that the social condi- 
 tion of mankind, generally speaking, is most pure when placed 
 under proper classification. Finally, he arrogates for his work, in 
 contradistinction to all others already issued from the press, on 
 " Improved Dwellings for the Poor," an attempt to point out 
 an improved method of constructing, for the labourer, a cottage 
 of comfort, convenience, recreation, and profit, in respect of which 
 he holds all others to be defective. 
 
21 
 
 mr. j. w. stevenson's " cottage homes." 
 
 With this view he proceeds to say, that the first and principal 
 thing, is a judicious selection of the site, which should adjoin the 
 highway, with a flower garden in front, though the owner of the 
 property, where not particular to a few yards of land, should 
 not insist on its being parallel with the road, or uniform, or in a 
 line with others, especially when not N.W., S.W., N.E., or S.E., 
 it being of the utmost importance to get the sun all round the 
 building. Site and garden should not occupy less than a rood and 
 a-half of land. Ornamental style, and the cost of embellishment, 
 he guards against, as detracting from the comfort and area of the 
 interior ; large projecting breaks, set-offs, high gables, bay and 
 dormer windows, barge board finishings, clustered lofty chimneys, 
 &c, cause additional labour and expense. By avoiding broken 
 lines of roof and decoration, an enlarged size of cottage, a good, 
 substantial, well finished building, plain, but neat in exterior, is 
 obtained. Hence this author recommends to the adoption of 
 builders of new cottages, as the best and most economical style, 
 work that is square on the plan. No house or principal living- 
 room, he says, should be less than 13 x 12, no bed-room than li x 9, 
 kitchen 12 x 12, with 9 x 5|- for pantries or larders ; lower rooms 
 not under 8 from floor to ceiling, and upper chambers He 
 requires closets for family purposes, or a wide stair-top landing 
 for boxes, chests, trunks, &c. ; an outer detached room for coals, 
 sticks, tools, &c, and underneath a portion of the same roof, a 
 privy, and connected therewith, large sunk ash-pits. Following 
 the injunctions of the Sanitary Eeports, he urges the discourage- 
 ment of breeding or keeping swine, as detrimental to health and 
 a temptation to dishonesty 5 but recommends the keeping of fowls 
 or bee keeping. Underneath the staircase, potatoes or vegetables, 
 for winter use, may be stored. All cottage erections should be 
 privately approachable from both house and kitchen. For recep- 
 tion of rain water, he recommends a tank, underneath a portion of 
 the kitchen floor, with a small sink-stone fixed over it ; and to 
 render the pantry or larder cool, that apartment should be sunk 
 a few steps in the earth. Eschewing therefore, ornamental work- 
 manship, as not adding to convenience or comfort, whilst mate- 
 rially increasing expense, he lays it down as certain, that it is 
 
SANITARY INJUNCTIONS — II. R. H. PRINCE ALBERT'S MODELS. 
 
 25 
 
 not possible to erect and complete an improved cottage, with 
 three sleeping rooms, of sufficient size, and other conveniences, 
 under £110, in any district of England. 
 
 To consummate the view here essayed of these noble and 
 wide-spread efforts of improvement, we have thrown into an 
 Appendix, as well meriting separate consideration, not only an 
 account of the " Plans and Suggestions for Dwellings adapted to 
 the Working Classes, including the Model Houses for- Families, 
 built by command of H.E.H. Prince Albert, K.G., in connection 
 with the Exposition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 
 1851, published by the Society for Improving the Condition of 
 the Labouring Classes," obligingly communicated to us by the 
 honorary architect, Henry Roberts, Esq., F.S.A., but also an ac- 
 count of the " Lumsdcn Model Dwellings, for Workmen's Houses 
 in Glasgow," for which we are indebted to James Wylson, Esq., 
 the architect. 
 
 The examples of Cottage Architecture, embodied in the pre- 
 sent volume, will be found to be varied and numerous; and as 
 already intimated, they are more especially entitled to be relied 
 upon, from the fact of being nearly, if not entirely, buildings 
 actually executed. It may probably also test their merits, in no 
 inconsiderable degree to state, that whilst this work was passing 
 through the press, the Cold- Medal of the Highland and Agri- 
 cultural Society of Scotland was awarded to Mr. Home, for the 
 cottages erected by him in Berwickshire, forming the principal 
 cottage designs now given to the public. 
 
 Scarcely less interesting even as a popular question, and 
 certainly not less important, the more extended erections of the 
 farm, claim some share of attention in these introductory remarks. 
 Historically, however, we have only to notice, that in succession 
 to the castles, the convents-, and those meaner buildings clustered 
 around them, or existing in separate " towns," which constituted 
 the only permanent structures of the country (for whilst the coun- 
 try was still greatly wooded, the rural abodes were, to a greal 
 extent, merely temporary wig-wams, the blame of which John 
 Mair, the historian, distinctly imputes to the unwillingness of the 
 proprietors to encourage tenants to erect decent and commodious 
 
26 
 
 OLD ONSTEADS IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 dwellings for themselves) after the Eeformation, the spoliation and 
 destruction of the religious houses, appears to have contributed, in 
 a singular degree, to improve and alter the rustic architecture of 
 Scotland, by an unexpected supply of materials, and the diffusion 
 of new ideas of domestic comfort. From the Eev. Dr. Skeene 
 Keith's " Description of the smaller sort of Farm Houses and 
 Offices in Scotland," and the " Rural Recollections " of George 
 Robertson; Esq. (1829), referring chiefly to Ayrshire and the 
 Lothians, it appears, that although where small farms have been 
 generally thrown into larger holdings, very considerable improve- 
 ments have taken place within the past half century, throughout 
 Berwickshire and the Lothians, as well as the principal agricul- 
 tural counties of the north and west, the existing onsteads were not, 
 very long ago, mostly of a very mean description. The houses, 
 consisting chiefly of a line of one storey buildings, from thirty to 
 forty feet long by fifteen broad, exhibited many instances, in which 
 substantial tenants were found not only destitute of domestic com- 
 fort, but of sufficient accommodation and shelter for their families 
 and stock. The two principal rooms in the centre, the kitchen 
 and family apartment alone, were warmed by fires, but that of the 
 kitchen was chiefly frequented by the entire household, for the 
 huge overhanging chimney, which environed the blazing hearth, 
 presented those ranges of seats, on two or three of its sides, which 
 gave rise to " the joys of the farmer's ingle." If by any chance 
 the floor of the parlour were constructed of deal, that of the 
 kitchen was commonly but beaten clay, the height of the ceiling 
 did not exceed eight feet, and innocent of lath and plaster, the 
 rafters were exposed overhead, and generally converted into 
 shelving. The houses adjoining the dwelling houses, on either 
 hand, usually constituted the offices — the barn being attached to 
 the parlour end, and the byre to that of the kitchen, with fre- 
 quently a door of communication, for easier access in milking 
 the cows. Here the poultry had generally the advantage of the 
 warmth overhead ; the stable lay beyond, but both byre and 
 stable were generally very deficient in racks, stalls and mangers, 
 whilst the loft or platform over the latter, too frequently had to 
 accommodate the ploughmen with lodgings. The barn yard oc- 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF THE FARM ROW — THE FARM HOUSE. 
 
 27 
 
 cupied the rear of this low range of buildings ; the midden stead, 
 if not absolutely existing in front, disputing possession of the rear, 
 and exhibiting a slovenly and ignorant waste of the better pro- 
 perties of the dunghill, which was suffered to accumulate and 
 dissipate its gases in the air, throughout the entire year — one 
 consolation being, that the dissipation in this manner of its 
 noxious vapours, was assumed to be conducive to health. 
 
 The first obvious improvement upon what we might thus 
 term the farm row rather than the farm steading, consisted in turn- 
 ing the bam at right angles to the dwelling, forming a half square, 
 and generally so situated, as to screen the windward exposure, 
 although it is now judged preferable to have the bam itself pro- 
 tected, and to place it north and south, for preservation from wet 
 and damp. The extension of accommodation thence led to the 
 filling up of three sides, the east, west, and north, and finally, as 
 we see in our most advanced plans, of the whole four sides of 
 a squai"e with offices. In many instances, the farm house still 
 remained in front, in others, it occupied the most eligible of the 
 angles, with ready access to the rear. But as it was commonly 
 recommended, that the south of the square of offices should simply 
 be fenced in, and left open to the sun for warmth, the favourite 
 position for the farm house and smaller offices, at least in North- 
 umberland, after the publication of Bailey and Culley's survey of 
 1813, in which this plan was recommended, was immediately in 
 front of the square, notwithstanding the objections urged to the 
 shade thus cast over the southern entrance of the yard. An emi- 
 nent authority insists, that perhaps the best situation for the farm 
 house, is on one side of the farm yard, with the common parlour 
 and kitchen opening nearly into it. " Farmers," says the able 
 but anonymous compiler of the work called "British Husbandry," 
 (London, 1834), "may talk as they like about unhealthy odours, 
 but there never was any one injured by them, and they cami.it 
 keep too close an eye upon their servants and stock." A vast 
 though recent increase of sanitary information, prevents our 
 thrusting the farmer and his family thus into the dungheap, as 
 proposed by " The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge : " 
 but certain it is, that the nearer in proximity the dwelling houses 
 
28 
 
 FORM AND ACCOMMODATIONS OF THE FARM HOUSE. 
 
 and offices can be placed, the better, since in Scotland we hold 
 strenuously by the proverb, that " the eye of a master maketh a 
 fat horse." With regard, however, to our older home steads, it 
 would be impossible to ascribe to them any thing like regularity 
 of plan, since each succeeding tenant may have been commis- 
 sioned to add to their convenience, improving them in the way 
 he thought best, but very frequently discomposing the true eco- 
 nomy of their arrangement, which dictates a relative position, 
 calculated to save time, labour, and expense, and to enable the 
 number of servants on a farm to be reduced, by orderly and in- 
 dustrious regulations, within the limits of absolute necessity. 
 
 The modern farm house, calculated to yield no more than the 
 amount of accommodation absolutely required by a respectable 
 family, the head of which invests in business, perhaps as large a 
 capital as the merchant or tradesman occupying a suburban villa 
 of similar appearance to a commodious farm residence, is now 
 usually detached, though placed at no inconvenient distance from 
 the steading, and is in a great measure proportioned in appearance 
 to the circumstances of the tenant — the extent, the importance, 
 or the affluence of his position. Thus, whilst the plainest farm 
 house now erected would be generally provided with at least two 
 living rooms, besides kitchen, scullery, and conveniences, and per- 
 haps six bed-rooms ; the sole addition to these accommodations in 
 a first-class farm house, would consist in its being distinguished 
 by two principal or public rooms, the dining-room and drawing- 
 room, besides the snug family parlour. The accommodation of 
 the farm house, in short, is rendered characteristically ample 
 without being superfluous. Thus in Plates I. and II., the dining 
 and drawing-room at East Blanerne, will be found to occupy 
 different floors, it being always essential for domestic conve- 
 nience, and the proper regulation of the in-door work of a farm, 
 to have the sitting parlour on the ground floor, and in juxta 
 position with the kitchen, store-room, scullery, and dairy. In 
 Plate III. it will be seen, that space has been found on one 
 floor at Broomdykes, for the whole three apartments in question. 
 The extent of the plans of Blackpotts, Plate V., limits it to a 
 dining-room and parlour alone, and both occupy the ground 
 
SCHEMES OF FARM OFFICES. 
 
 29 
 
 floor, a commodious " principal bed-room," filling the chamber 
 floor space above the former apartment. Two spacious ground 
 floor rooms, for similar purposes, are furnished by the plan of 
 Turtleton, Plate VII. 
 
 A square building is suggested as best calculated for the 
 form of a farm house ; but it is found, that in this case, the 
 intercommunication by lobbies and passages, occupies more of 
 the internal space, than where the irregularity of the ground plan 
 admits of entrance directly into the central portion of the house. 
 Thus, the ground plans of such farm houses as Broomdykes 
 and Turtleton, Plates III. and VII., are square, whilst in those 
 of East Blanerne and Blackpotts, Plates I. and V., with the 
 dining-room wing projecting in the D form, having the entrance 
 door at its angle, we find superseded to some extent, the ne- 
 cessity of penetrating into the interior, by a long lobby before 
 reaching the stairs. 
 
 Much as has been adduced towards laying down a model 
 scheme of farm offices, it must be acknowledged, that as the varia- 
 tions of arable and pasture lands, of the sizes, soils, and situations 
 of farms are infinite, it will be no easy matter inventing a plan for 
 universal adaptation. A tolerable proof of this is, that the High- 
 land and Agricultural Society, still continues to offer, year after 
 year, its Gold Medal, for an approved report and plan, accom- 
 panied by a specification of the work, and expense of farm offices, 
 showing the best arrangement and most complete accommodation, 
 conjoined with moderate outlay, and requiring the arrangements 
 for feeding, and for saving the solid and liquid manures, to be 
 specially noticed. If we mistake not, it was, last year, publicly 
 notified by the Society, that no one of the plans, offered in com- 
 petition, had been found entitled to its entire approval (although 
 one has been accepted since). Nor is this to be wondered at, for 
 although the improvements presented, in some instances, by those 
 who happen to have devoted attention to a particular object, have 
 been signalised by striking evidences of skill and ingenuity ; yet 
 other points, of equal importance, in a comprehensive design for 
 farm offices, have generally been lost sight of, to a corresponding 
 
30 
 
 SCHEMES OF FARM OFFICES. 
 
 degree. Thus, we have seen a plan devised, for roofing over the 
 entire square of offices, as in the inhospitable climate of Poland, 
 accompanied by arguments of economy and advantage, scarcely 
 resistible — only the ground plan of the establishment happened 
 to prove as incomplete as its roofing was perfect. In other cases, 
 where the attention has been mainly directed to extend the use of 
 the motive power upon the steading, by lying shafts, and the use 
 of minor machines, it has too frequently happened, that the minor 
 conveniences have been multiplied to the exclusion of those of 
 major importance. By the time that connecting machinery, and 
 accommodation were distributed for chopping hay, slicing turnips, 
 grinding rape-cake, working churns, sawing wood, bruising corn, 
 hummelling barley, driving fanners, perhaps a pair of flour or 
 oatmeal grindstones, &c, it might be found, that accommodations 
 much more essential, had been pre-occupied or forestalled. With 
 regard to feeding accommodation, on which so much stress is laid, 
 it will be found, that the steadings of Auchness and Myremill, in 
 Wigton and Ayrshires, the plans of which have been published, 
 as models of this kind of arrangement in farm offices, are rather 
 adapted to their own special cases, and contain nothing which the 
 author of the present designs has not been practically engaged for 
 years, in adapting to Berwickshire, Eoxburghshire, and Border 
 farms, to an extent appropriate to their peculiar circumstances, as 
 may be seen by consulting the Plates, from Plate VIII. to Plate 
 XVIIL, both inclusive. The point is, to render the conveniences 
 complete, according to the wants of the farm. Being complete, 
 they ought also to be compact 5 and to accomplish this object, on 
 which the economy of time and labour so obviously depend, the 
 feeding-houses and stables, though they ought generally to be 
 situated apart, in the cattle and clean courts, respectively — 
 should be easily accessible from the bams, and so indeed should 
 all parts of the establishment from one another. The corn ricks 
 and threshing-mill, or barn and granaries, should be in proximity ; 
 so should the straw-barn, and straw or feeding-yards ; whilst the 
 stable manure should be readily transferable into the cattle courts, 
 whence the joint produce ought to be as easily conveyed to the 
 
MANSES — SCHOOLS — GATES. 
 
 31 
 
 adjoining dung-heap — for this, with all deference to the idea 
 already adverted to, that it does no harm — vitiates the air with 
 effluvia, noxious to cattle, and ought, therefore, to be accom- 
 modated in a situation admitting of some attention to the escape 
 of ammonia, which both wastes the essence of the manure, and 
 affects the health of animals. But these are details, which may, 
 with greater propriety, be illustrated, by reference to our practical 
 examples. 
 
 The other distinctive features of the present work — the manse 
 and school designs — partaking more of the character of public 
 buildings, might present a fairer field for launching forth into 
 more ambitious architecture, were it not that the spirit of the age 
 is so entirely bent on doing good, upon economical principles, 
 that even here it becomes incumbent to avoid unnecessary cost. 
 The remarkable number of illustrious men — the sons of ministers 
 — whom the manses of Scotland have sent forth to fill the inost 
 exalted offices in the United Kingdom, and to reflect back honour 
 on their land, would seem to dictate something like a national 
 pride in these abodes of learning and piety. And when it is con- 
 sidered, that by a recent extension of their number, with which, 
 however, in a work of this nature, we have nothing to do, beyond 
 contemplating the fact, peculiar attention is at this moment 
 directed to their structure and design; we trust, that a practical 
 illustration of manse accommodation, will not be amongst the least 
 welcome portion of the contents of our work. As for the school- 
 room, simplicity of design, with warmth and perfect ventilation, 
 freedom from draughts, and abundant light, are always compatible 
 with any saving in expense, which the benevolent may seek to 
 effect, in the view of multiplying the examples of their generosity 
 rather than beautifying a solitary establishment. One thing, 
 however, is to be observed, in favour of bestoAving a little em- 
 bellishment, and it is, that an elegant building of this sort, may 
 be fairly argued to be in no slight degree conducive to the pro- 
 motion of those tastes and feelings, that border on enlighten- 
 ment, and help the progress of education itself, by creating an 
 attachment to the school. 
 
32 GATES — RAILINGS. 
 
 Nothing, at so cheap a rate, enhances the appearance of 
 Eural Architecture, as those accessories, which we present in 
 the form of designs for gates and fences. The crude and un- 
 skilful attempts at embellishments of this sort, founded on ill- 
 considered plans, and amenable to no code of symmetry, or sys- 
 tem of arrangement, render it useful to have approved examples 
 laid down, for the guidance of such as wish to put an elegant 
 finish to their other improvements. For this end, the drawings 
 and specifications we have given, may perhaps be found suffi- 
 ciently suggestive ; and in that hope, we commit them to the 
 reader's hands. 
 
33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FARM HOUSES. 
 
 Four distinct Varieties of Farm Houses Illustrated — East Blancrnc Farm House — 
 Its Accommodations — Working Specifications — Mason Work — Joiner Work 
 
 — Slater Work — Plumber Work — Plaster Work — Broomdykes Farm House 
 
 — Its Accommodations and Advantages — Blackpotts Farm House and its 
 Accommodations — Turtleton Farm House and its Accommodations. 
 
 Our designs and plans, in illustration of the chief domestic build- 
 ing of the farm, are seven in number (Plate I. et seq) 1 and 
 embrace four distinct varieties of farm houses. Situated, one and 
 all, in Berwickshire, a county where, even so long back as the 
 commencement of the century, the farms varied in rent from £200 
 to £1200, and where the farming has certainly lost nothing in the 
 scale of magnitude, since the introduction of improved modes of 
 agriculture ; these erections will, most probably, exemplify com- 
 pletely, the whole desirable forms of the home of the Scottish 
 farmer. The high and important position which the pursuit of 
 agriculture now occupies, the education which the farmer require s 
 to qualify in his profession, his habits of life, and his rank in 
 society, are generally acknowledged to entitle him to house ac- 
 commodation, involving not only the decencies, the comforts, and 
 conveniences of life, but something of its pleasures, its case, and 
 its luxuries. The farmer's residence, therefore, without aspiring 
 to ostentation, should be alike elegant, ample, and commodious. 
 Having already laid down, upon general principles, the form and 
 extent of this kind of edifice, it remains only to proceed to show, 
 from existing instances, what are the details of which it is com- 
 posed. It should, we think, be kept in view, that although funn- 
 ing certainly a leading accessory in the rural landscape, neither 
 the fantastic forms of Ricauti's half-timbered edifices, nor the 
 half Swiss, half Gothic, villa styles, so much in vogue, are so 
 well adapted to the utilitarian character of this sort of structure, 
 as the substantial and chastely ornate house of fewer pretensions, 
 c 
 
34 
 
 EAST BLANERNE FARM HOUSE — ITS ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 I. EAST BLANERNE FARM HOUSE. 
 
 (Plates I. and II.) 
 
 The elevation of this farm house (the property of the Rev. Sandys 
 Lurnsden, situated in the parish of Bunkle), facing the south, and 
 occupying an excellent site to the west of the farm offices, close 
 upon the Dunse line of the North British Railway, it will be per- 
 ceived from Plate I. is chaste and simple. It was built for the 
 late David Blackadder, Esq., the eminent surveyor. The advanced 
 gable end, which contains, on different floors, both dining and 
 drawing-room, whilst conferring the benefits of central access 
 adverted to in the preceding chapter, considerably relieves the 
 monotony of what must otherwise have been a plain square front, 
 especially in the grouping of chimney tops, presented to the eye, 
 and it also shelters the entrance door from the severe eastern 
 blasts. The harmony of the exterior design is preserved by the 
 entire balance of the building, as the western wall face of this 
 projection, forms in effect an equivalent for the south front on 
 the other side of the entrance. 
 
 The ground plan, Plate I., affords — 
 
 Lobby and Staircase. 
 Cellar (below the stairs) 15 x 8. 
 Dining-Room, 20 x 15. 
 Parlour, i4j x n. 
 Store-Room, 14J x 6. 
 Dairy and Closet, io x 7. 
 Kitchen, 13 x 13. 
 Scullery, 11 x 10. 
 
 The Ash-Pit and Coals are without. 
 
 On the chamber floor, Plate IT., there are — 
 
 Stairs, Landing, and Lighted Bed-Closet. 
 
 Drawing-Room, 17 J x iij. 
 
 China Closet. 
 
 Water Closet and Bath. 
 
 {1*5 x 12. 
 11 x 1*0. 
 15 x 10. 
 
 Servants' Room, 15 x 10. 
 
EAST BLANERNE FARM HOUSE — ITS ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 35 
 
 The ground floor accommodation is ten feet in height. The 
 lobby is ascended from the ground by a large flag stone step. 
 The lobby and stair-case, as will be noticed in the specifications, 
 are elegantly furnished with close jointed polished Arbroath flags. 
 The dining-room is lighted from west and south, the parlour from 
 south and east. The parlour, as head-quarters of the mistress of 
 the establishment, is placed in immediate communication with the 
 store-room and dairy, and through the latter with the kitchen, &c. 
 The kitchen fire, which is generally kept continually lighted, is 
 placed in the central position of the house, to dispense the benefit 
 of its warmth, more especially to the cold lobby and stairs. The 
 scullery is provided with the appropriate apparatus for washing 
 and cleansing, as boiler, sink, and pump. A stair of droved flags 
 descends to the cellar, which has three tier of stone shelves ; and 
 the cellar floor, as well as those of the kitchen, scullery, closets, 
 and dairy, are formed of native flag stones. The back door, 
 descending from the scullery by a small flagged stone step, has in 
 its immediate vicinity the ash-pit and coals, receptacles for which 
 are in the rear of the long wing of the building. The opposition 
 of the front and back doors is such, as to secure perfect ventila- 
 tion, without creating a direct thorough draught. 
 
 The chamber floor is provided with a lighted bed-closet over 
 the lobby, and a landing over a portion of the staircase. A well 
 proportioned drawing-room, lighted by two windows from the east 
 and one from the south, enters off this landing. The addition of 
 a china closet is provided over a portion of the dairy, to give 
 ample altitude to the ceiling of which, the closet floor is raised 
 a few steps, as also are the floors of the bath and water closet, 
 (calculated for one hundred gallons, and ventilated with a swan 
 neck), the bath and water closet being accessible by a flight of 
 steps leading from the chamber stairs, there lighted by a sky-light. 
 Besides the little front bed-closet, three bed-rooms, two of larger 
 and one of smaller dimensions, are formed, with a short passage, 
 communicating with the landing, upon the range of space over 
 the dining-room and kitchen. The bed-rooms arc lighted with one 
 window a piece, a dumb window on the east of the gabled front 
 bed-room, corresponding on the side elevation with that of the 
 
36 
 
 WORKING SPECIFICATIONS — MASON WORK. 
 
 dining-room below. The servants' room, on the chamber floor, is 
 completely walled off from the sleeping apartments of the family, 
 and is accessible by the back stairs. 
 
 The plan of the roof, Plate II., exhibits the manner in which 
 the tie of the roof may be maintained in a building thus disposed, 
 as well as the arrangement of the chimneys, eleven in number, all 
 of which may easily be traced to the ground and chamber floors, 
 by consultation of the plan. 
 
 The entire cost of the building is £500. 
 
 The further minutiee of detail in the construction must now 
 be explained, though necessarily in a technical form, ready for 
 extracting and placing in the hands of any contractor or work- 
 man, by reference to the following — 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 Mason Work. 
 
 The cellar, the whole area of the buildings, and 2 beyond the exterior face 
 of the Avails, to be excavated to the levels shown in the draAvings. 
 
 The foundations to be formed with large flat bedded stones, hard packed 
 with stone shivers, and the scarcements to be formed, as shown in the sec- 
 tions. 
 
 The whole of the walls to be of the best ruble building, having the 
 stones laid on their broadest beds, Avith headers every foot in height, extend- 
 ing through two-thirds of the thickness of the walls, and not more than 4 
 apart. 
 
 The whole of the stones to be hammer dressed, for the exterior face of 
 the Avails, and to be neatly snecked up, and the joints to be clean and neatly 
 drawn in. 
 
 The walls to be levelled for the reception of the bond timbers, and for 
 all plates and joisting. 
 
 The whole of the flues to be close built, and plastered with haired lime 
 mortar. 
 
 Every opening or void in the building, to have a saving arch throAvn 
 across, with bricks or hammer dressed stones. 
 
 The door and windoAv rybats, soles, lintels, and corners, to have 6 droved 
 margins. The rybats and corners to have broached tails. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — MASON WORK — JOINEK WORK. 
 
 37 
 
 All the plinths, hase-course steps, copes, skews, strings, and chimney- 
 stalks, to he neatly tooled, droved, and pick-dabbed. 
 
 The corners and rybats to be all regularly in-and-outbands. The out- 
 bands to be not less than 20 long, and the inbands to extend through the 
 thickness of the walls ; and all to be square shaped. 
 
 The entrance lobby and staircases to be finished with rubbed Arbroath 
 flags, close-jointed, and bedded upon sand. 
 
 The floors of the kitchen, scullery, closets, dairy, passages, and cellar, 
 arc to be laid with the best native flags, droved and jointed, and placed upon 
 a bed of sand, below which there is to be a bed of small stones 9 deep. 
 
 The cellar stair is to be formed of droved flags, properly built up. 
 
 The fire places to have rubbed jambs and lintels of sufficient size. 
 
 The dining and drawing-rooms to have neatly cut and rubbed stone 
 mantel-pieces, for which a drawing is to be given. The whole of the jambs 
 and lintels to project 4 from the plaster. 
 
 All the fire places to have rubbed Arbroath slabs and hearths, of the 
 sizes marked on the plans. 
 
 The mortar used in the building, to be composed of the best well burned 
 lime and sharp sand. 
 
 A soil-pit for the water-closet to be dug out where directed, to bo 10 
 deep and 4 diameter, when finished, built round with dry stones, and covered 
 with strong Caithness flags. 
 
 The drains from the water-closet and scullery sink, to be 10 x 8, flagged 
 on the top and bottom, to extend to the distance of twenty yards from the 
 house, and to have sufficient currents and proper traps. 
 
 Two pierced stone basins to be built in for the rain water-pipes. All 
 the skews to overlap the slates. 
 
 The cellar to have three tier of stone shelves. 
 
 All partitions on the ground floor to be of brick on bed. 
 
 Joiner Work; 
 
 Bond timbers, ii x i, to be built into all the walls throughout the whole of 
 the apartments, except the dairy and cellar, at the distance of 20 apart. 
 
 The safe lintels to be the whole breadth of the walls, less the stone 
 lintels, and to be i' in thickness, for every foot in width of the opening they 
 have to span ; all of them to have a solid bearing, on the Malls, of v> at each 
 end. 
 
 The lath straps to be i square, and nailed to the bond timbers, at the 
 distance of 14 betwixt centres. 
 
38 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS — JOINER WORK. 
 
 The skylight in the water-closet and passage, to he cradled down with 
 scantling, 3^ x 2, and 14 apart. 
 
 The sleeper joists in the hall, staircase, dining-room, parlour, store-room, 
 and water-closet, to he of red Dram battens, 6j x sj, and at the distance 
 apart shown in the sections. 
 
 The wall plates, for the sleeper walls, to he 6j x i£ red battens. 
 
 The sleepers in the hall and staircase, to be covered with i Memel board- 
 ing, 8 wide. 
 
 All the other sleepers to be covered with i| red Dram battens, properly 
 dressed, jointed, grooved, and tongued in the joints, and to be cleaned off 
 when laid. 
 
 The joisting for the drawing and bed-room floors, to be ib x jjf, and 
 to be set on wall plates, 8 x ij, at the distance apart shown in the sections, 
 the joists to be properly trimmed for the stair and hearths, and all of them to 
 have 16 of wall hold at each end. 
 
 The whole of the joists to be well strutted across the centres of the 
 rooms, with scantlings, 7 x i'J, and covered with if thick white Dram battens, 
 properly dressed, jointed, grooved, and tongued, and to be cleaned off when 
 laid. 
 
 The pug boarding for the whole of the upper floors to be § thick, and 
 the fillets to be i square, well nailed to the joists. 
 
 The cupples for the roof to be all made from 6^ x 2j white Dram bat- 
 tens, and set upon 6j x wall plates, at the distance apart shown in the 
 section. 
 
 The baulks to be 5 x 2, and the ceiling joists to be 6 x 2. 
 The high rafters to be 9 x 2^, and the ties to be 3 x i£. 
 The sarking to be | thick, and close jointed. 
 The roof of the dairy and coal house to have — 
 
 Cupples, 6, and 5 x 
 
 Baulk, x 2. 
 
 Wall plates, &\ x \\. 
 
 Sarking, f thick ; and 
 
 The ceiling joists for the dairy roof to be 5 x i^. 
 
 The hip and ridge poles to be 2 diameter, properly fixed to the roof. 
 
 The skylight to be made of 2 stuff, and nailed down upon the sarking. 
 
 The standards for the bed-room partitions to be 4 x 2, and put up at the 
 distance of 14 apart from centres. 
 
 The grounds for the wall finishings to be 'i\ x i", and those for the 
 window finishings to 2\ x if. 
 
 The door standards for the bed-room floor to be b\ x 2 j, and those for 
 the ground floor to be 6 ^ x 2\ of red Dram battens. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — JOINER WORK. 
 
 39 
 
 The wall press-door standards to be 4x ij. The wall press is to be 
 lined all round, with £ inch deal 8 broad ; and each press to have four shelves 
 t inch thick. 
 
 The dairy to have three tiers of i shelving, i{j wide, well supported with 
 framed brackets, 4 apart. 
 
 The water-closet cistern to be 4 x 2\ x 2, made of deal, dove-tailed ; 
 the bearers to be 4 x 3. 
 
 The seat to be fitted up in the usual manner, with framed front, flap, 
 back, and elbows, of i\ deal. 
 
 The whole [of the pipes to be covered with f inch deal. 
 
 The front door to be framed with S}J Memel, to have } inch panels, 
 moulded on] both" sides, hung with three G^ double jointed hinges, and to have 
 a Scotch iron rim lock, of the value of 20s. 
 
 The coal house door to be made of lj red battens, grooved, tongued, and 
 beaded, and to have three cross bars, G^x is, well nailed on the inside, and 
 to be hung with 20 "jf hinges screwed on ; Woodstock lock, of the value of 3s., 
 and a strong thumb latch. 
 
 The entrance door to the kitchen, &c, to be framed, bead, and (lush, of 
 2 plank, and J inch panels, to be hung with three 5 double-jointed hinges, and 
 to have a 5s. lock and good thumb latch. 
 
 All the doors to be framed with four panels ; the doors of the dining- 
 room, drawing-room, and parlour, to be made of 2 stulT; and those of all the 
 other apartments to be framed with i'i stuff; the wall press doors to be framed 
 with i£ stuff ; to have planted mouldings on both sides, except the wall pros 
 and cellar doors, which are to be single moulded. 
 
 The 2 doors to be hung with 5 double-jointed hinges, and to have 10s. 6d. 
 mortice locks. 
 
 The i'£ doors to have 7 best iron rim locks, and to be hung with 4 double- 
 jointed hinges. 
 
 All the wall press doors to be hung with 3J double-jointed hinges, and to 
 have long press locks, of the value of 2s. 6d. each. The water-closet door to 
 have a good spring latch, and 4 rod bolt inside. 
 
 All the window-shutters to be framed with deal, with two panels, ami 
 double margin rail in the centre, moulded as described for the doors, and hung 
 with 3 double-jointed hinges. The back folds to be jj deal, clamped on the ends, 
 and hung with i'-J back-fold hinges. 
 
 All the shutters to have i\ brass knobs, and spring latch, with shutter 
 bars, 18 long. 
 
 The dining and drawing-rooms to have framed and moulded softets, backs, 
 and elbows, the framing to be thick, and the panelling and mouldings to 
 correspond with the doors and shutters. 
 
 The parlour to have j inch deal linings for the backs and elbows. 
 
40 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS JOINER WORK. 
 
 The window-cases will be made of f inch deal, the soles to be 3^ thick, 
 double sunk ; and the lintels to be ij thick. 
 
 The window-sashes to be of 2 wood, with astragals, § inch thick ; and to- 
 gether, with the fan-lights, to be glazed with the best Newcastle second crown 
 glass, well primed with white lead and linseed oil, before being glazed. 
 
 The windows in the dining and drawing-room to be double hung, with 
 brass axle pulleys, cast-iron weights, and best patent sash cords. All the other 
 windows to be single hung. 
 
 The doors and windows in the dining and drawing-rooms to have 6 ar- 
 chitraves. 
 
 The doors and windows of all the other apartments, to be finished with 
 5 architraves. 
 
 The kitchen, scullery, and dairy, to have 4^ x f inch beaded facings and 
 skirtings. 
 
 The plinths of the base for the dining and drawing-room, to be 9 deep, 
 i thick, and to have a 2 x ij moulding on the top ; these plinths to be all 
 tongued into the floor. 
 
 The plinths for all the other bases to be 't\ deep, and f inch thick, with a 
 if x is moulding on the top. 
 
 The principal stair to be formed of the best clean \\ Memel or red pine 
 
 deal. 
 
 The wall strings to be \\ thick, each in one length and well blocked up. 
 The steps to be housed and mitred into the wall strings, which are to be finished 
 with a base moulding on the upper edge. 
 
 The hand-rail to be of mahogany, with cast-iron ballustrade ; i bugle 
 beads to be put up where required. 
 
 The stair to servants' bed-room to be formed of \\ deal, in the usual 
 manner, and to be enclosed at the top by a f inch deal partition and door, with 
 all necessary furnishings. 
 
 The sink in the scullery to be made of i \ deal, dove-tailed together. 
 
 The whole of the bed-rooms to have jamb mouldings, and the parlour to 
 have a neat pilaster mantel-piece. 
 
 The kitchen to have an i^ deal frame, and shelf 6 broad, with centre rail 
 fixed above the fireplace. 
 
 The kitchen ceiling to have ten strong iron hoops, screwed to the joists. 
 
 The windows, fanlight, and skylight, to be well primed before being 
 glazed ; and when finished, to be twice painted with white lead and linseed oil. 
 
 The whole of the finishings to be of the best clean American yellow 
 
 pine. 
 
 The outside doors, windows and cases, lintels, bond timbers, straps, roof- 
 ing, joisting, flooring plates, &c, to be of the best red pine, Dram battens and 
 Memel, as before specified. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — SLATER, PLUMBER, AND PLASTER AYORK. 
 
 11 
 
 The contractor to provide all materials. 
 
 The mason, slater, and plasterer, to have the use of the sleeper joists and 
 roofing, for scaffolding. 
 
 The doors, windows, and other finishings, in the present farm house, as 
 pointed out by the employer, to become the property of the joiner. 
 
 Slater Work. 
 
 The whole of the roofs to be covered with lady slates, 16 x 8, having i>£ 
 of cover ; and to be double nailed with japanned nails, of sufficient strength. 
 The contractor to provide all materials. 
 
 Plumber Work. 
 
 The whole of the ridges, hips, gutters, and skylight, to be covered with 
 6 lb. milled lead, 12 broad ; to be properly fixed. 
 
 Zinc roans or spouts to be put all round the main roof, 20 oz. to the 
 superficial foot, and of 5 diameter, with both edges turned over a I inch iron 
 rod. The hold-fasts to be nailed to the sarking boards, at 2 apart, made of 
 malleable iron, japanned, of sufficient strength, and batted into the stone-works 
 across the gables. 
 
 The wall pipes to be li in diameter. 
 
 The water-closet to be fitted up with the best patent apparatus ; the soil- 
 pipe to be i£ in diameter, the waste-pipe to be 3 in diameter, and carried into 
 the cesspool. The cistern is to be lined with 7 lb. lead. All the pipes to be of 
 the best construction, and properly fitted for their several uses. 
 
 A swan-neck ventilator to be fixed into the roof of the; water-closet. 
 
 The contractor to provide all the materials. 
 
 Plaster Work. 
 
 The whole of the ceilings, stair soflets, standards, wall straps, scontions, 
 &c, to be lathed with the best split lath, and nailed witli 2.jr lb. wrought 
 nails. 
 
 The whole of the ceilings, partitions, walls, soflets, scontions, backs and 
 elbows, to be finished with the best three-coat plaster, free from cracks and 
 blisters. 
 
 The dairy, scullery, and servants' room, to be finished with two coats of 
 plaster. 
 
 The dining-room, drawing-room, parlour, bed-rooms, hall, staircase, and 
 passage, to have suitable stucco cornices. 
 
42 
 
 BROOMDYKES FARM HOUSE — ITS ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 The space behind the skirtings to be lathed and plastered down to the floor. 
 The composition for the deafening to be 3 thick, and composed of lime, 
 earth, and engine ashes ; when dry, the cracks to be properly filled up with thin 
 lime mortar. 
 
 The plasterer to provide all the materials. 
 
 General Conditions. 
 
 The whole of the works described in the preceding Specifications, with 
 reference to the several drawings thereof, must be completed in the most sub- 
 stantial and workman-like manner, to the entire satisfaction of the inspector. 
 The estimate to be given in, must include every expense attending the entire 
 completion of the building. 
 
 It shall be in the power of the employer to make such alterations or 
 deviations from the plan as may be thought proper or necessary, without in 
 any respect altering or affecting the terms of the contract to be entered into. 
 Such alterations shall be valued by the inspector, and the amount of them 
 added to, or deducted from, that of the contract, as the case may be. 
 
 Should any doubt arise as to the meaning of the plans or Specifications, 
 the same shall be referred to the Architect, whose decision shall be binding on 
 the employer and the employed. 
 
 II. BROOMDYKES FARM HOUSE. 
 
 (Plates III. and IV.) 
 
 This is an example of a farm house of large size, the ground plan 
 of which, including the area of the domestic offices in the rear, 
 forms, as will be obvious from a glance at Plate III., the square 
 so highly commended for such buildings. The office buildings, 
 however, are not carried up beyond the chamber floor. Broom- 
 dykes, the property of Sir George Houston Boswell, Bart., is 
 situated in the parish of Edrom, Berwickshire. The house faces 
 the south, and is situated immediately in front of the farm offices. 
 The front and back elevations, though plain, are relieved from a 
 commonplace appearance, by the variations introduced in each 
 case, in the form of the central window. 
 
BROOMDYKES FARM HOUSE — ITS ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 43 
 
 The plan of the ground floor gives — 
 
 Lobby, Stairs, Closet, and Cellar. 
 Dininc-Room, I9i x 15J. 
 Drawing-Room, 19 J x 16j. 
 Parlour, 14 x 12. 
 Kitchen, Passage, and Closet. 
 Kitchen, lit x 12 with Closet. 
 Scullery, 132- x 12. 
 
 Pantry, 8x8; Passages and Dairy, 9x8; and 
 Servants' Room, 12 x 9. 
 
 The plan of the chamber floor gives — 
 
 Staircase Landing, with Store and Water-Closet. 
 Two front Bed-Rooms, each 16$ x l'fij, with 
 Handsome Light Dressing-Closets. 
 Two back Bed-Rooms, 13.9x12, and 13i x 12. 
 
 The reception-rooms, Plate III., occupy the front of the 
 ground floor — the domestic apartments being behind. The lobby 
 entered by flag-stone and step, and fan-lighted, penetrates be- 
 neath the stairs, the entire breadth of the building ; where the 
 thorough communication deviates, and the entrance to the kitchen 
 is completely detached from the vicinity of the principal rooms. 
 The kitchen, by passages of its own, communicates with the 
 whole range of the back offices — the back passages to the dairy 
 being lighted by a sky-light, seen in the plan of the office roofing 
 [Plate IV.] and being also fan-lighted over the back door. 
 
 The chamber floor, 10 in height, possesses an ample landing 
 and passages, lighted by the large staircase window Been in the 
 northern elevation [Plate IV.] — the double window, over the 
 hall door, lighting the two very spacious dressing closets of the 
 large front bed-rooms. The front bed-rooms are lighted only 
 from the south ; the back bed-rooms only from the north ; and 
 are each provided with two wall presses. 
 
 The specifications of work already inserted, are generally 
 applicable to the execution of this substantial and commodious 
 building. 
 
44 
 
 BLACKPOTTS FARM HOUSE AND ITS ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 III. BLACKPOTS FARM HOUSE. 
 (Plates V. and VI.) 
 
 This elegant house, erected in 1848, by W. F. Home, Esq. of 
 Billie and Paxton, on the farm of Blackpots, situated near to 
 and about a mile and a-half south of St. Abbs Head, in Ber- 
 wickshire, is in some respects a modification of the first design 
 described in the preceding pages. It is placed immediately in 
 front of the farm offices looking towards the south, environed by 
 shrubbery on the west ; and the eastern elevation [Plate VI.], 
 which looks into the garden, shows a very harmonious effect in 
 the clustering of the central chimneys. 
 
 The plan of the ground floor, 10 in height, contains — 
 
 Lobby, Stairs, Back Passages, Cellar, &c. 
 
 DlNlNG-BoOM, 19 X 16. 
 
 Parlour, 16 x i"i£. 
 Bed-Boom, 12 x s£. 
 Kitchen, 15 x 13. 
 Scullery, iij x 10. 
 Dairy, 7x6. 
 Pantry, 7x6. 
 
 whilst, in the court without, are situated coal-house, water-closet, 
 ash-pit, and privy. 
 
 The outhouses, dairy, and pantry, are not carried up ; and 
 the plan of the chamber floor, 9^ in height, contains — 
 
 Staircase Landing and Passages. 
 
 Light front Closet. 
 
 Principal Bed-Boom, 16 x 15 ; and 
 
 Three other Bed-Booms, 16 x lbj, 11, and 9| respectively. 
 Servants' Room, li x 9. 
 
 The dining-room and principal bed-room over it, are alone 
 lighted from two directions, south and east. It is frequently 
 desirable, not only that the living-room, or parlour, should be 
 upon the ground floor, contiguous to the domestic offices, but that 
 the bed-room occupied by the heads of the family, should be so 
 situated ; a bed-room is, with this view, substituted for the store- 
 
TURTLETON FARM HOUSE AND ITS ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 4.") 
 
 room on the former similar ground plan. The dairy and scullery 
 are also placed in more immediate connection. The stairs to the 
 servants' room above, again ascend from the latter. It will be 
 observed, that the drain from the scullery sink passes through the 
 garden. A cart-way opens from the exterior court to the north, 
 and a door to the west into the shrubbery. The outer necessary 
 communicates with the garden on the east. 
 
 This building cost £700. The specifications given again apply. 
 
 IV. TURTLETON FARM HOUSE. 
 (Plate VII.) 
 
 The ground plan and south elevation of the farm house at Turtle- 
 ton, executed also by W. F. Home, Esq., on his property of that 
 name in the parish of Dunse, is in keeping with the style of rural 
 architectural improvements now aspired after — presenting double 
 windows, mullions, gablets, clustered chimneys, pointed finials, 
 and other ornaments, indicative of modern taste and workmanship. 
 It is square in the plan, and stands on the north side of the Dunse 
 turnpike, in front of the farm offices which face the south. 
 
 The arrangement of the ground floor, 10 in height, is simple, 
 giving — 
 
 Lobby, Staircase, Closet, &c. 
 Two Front Rooms, each i'6 x u. 
 Large Kitchen, i's£ x 12. 
 Scullery, 10 x 8. 
 Pantry and Dairy, each 8x5. 
 
 The chamber floor possesses three bed-rooms, 8^ in height, 
 distributed over the above, and a large closet over the lobby. 
 
 The cost of this extremely elegant farm house is only £392. 
 We need not detail the specifications, since those already given 
 may once more be adapted to this particular case. 
 
40 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FARM OFFICES. 
 
 Improved Examples — Mr. R. Kitchie's Arrangements — A Lothian Farmery — Large 
 Northumberland Farm Steading — Berwickshire Feeding Steading — Com- 
 plete Lothians do. — A Kail way Stackyard — Intersecting Railway for Farm 
 Steadings — Compacting and Placing of Farm Buildings — Mr. I. J. Mechi's 
 Suggestions for Farmeries — The Duke of Bedford's Farm Steadings — Venti- 
 lation of Stables and Byres — Mr. Macgillivaray's Plan — Mr. Neil Ballingal's 
 Ventilating System — Liquid Manure Tanks — Illustrations of Mode of Con- 
 structing Tanks — Their Capacity, &c. 
 
 The steading or farmery is the great workshop of the farm. For 
 reasons already stated, it is desirable that it should be situated in 
 the immediate proximity of the farm house ; and in the examples 
 already given of farm houses, they have accordingly been placed 
 directly in front of the offices. This, of course, however desirable, 
 cannot always be done, and must be subject to the dictation of 
 circumstances. In connection with the examples we have now to 
 offer of this useful and important class of farm buildings, it re- 
 mains only to speak of the more improved description of steadings, 
 since it is highly improbable that any thing short of the best would 
 be deemed worthy of the attention of agriculturists, at a time when 
 our feeding system is so keenly investigated ; and the only regret 
 that appears to exist, is perhaps, that ventilation on the one hand, 
 and the saving of manure, whether liquid or solid, in covered re- 
 ceptacles on the other, is not sufficiently promoted. Mr. Robert 
 Ritchie, C.E., who in his valuable work, "The Farm Engineer," 
 has paid peculiar attention to the structure and disposition of the 
 offices on farms, chiefly with a view however to their being accom- 
 modated with machinery, illustrates admirably some of the exist- 
 ing arrangements of farm steadings, upon farms of 300 acres 
 and upwards, in different districts of the Lothians, Berwickshire, 
 and Northumberland. The buildings of one of these, a Lothian 
 
A LOTHIAN FARMERY — LARGE NORTHUMBERLAND FARM STEADING. 47 
 
 Farmery, attached to a farm of several hundred acres, and placed 
 at some little distance from the dwelling house, we find described 
 as most substantial, of stone and slated, with a commodious road in 
 front of the steading, two wide carriage entrances into the courts, 
 and a paved road, 15 wide, running round three of the interior 
 sides, giving access to the different yards and houses. Extra 
 cattle sheds, and a commodious implement and tool house exist 
 in the rear of the buildings — a granary being placed above the 
 former, with access by a stair from the court, and admitting of 
 sacks being lowered from it into carts. Drains from the cattle 
 sheds, arranged upon a good declivity, convey the liquid manure 
 to a tank or pump. Here, as appears from the ground plan, the 
 front range of buildings is occupied by a work-horse stable, for 
 five pair of horses — having on either hand the two carriage ways 
 above mentioned, and a loose-box stable, with the foreman's 
 dwelling house and gig house. The interior of the square is 
 mostly occupied by the cattle courts and hovels — space being 
 taken off for the steam engine and steaming apparatus. The 
 paved way round the three interior sides turns to the left, and 
 the left side of the court facing inwards, is occupied by cart sheds 
 with granary above, entering by a corner stair, flanked at either 
 end by riding-horse stables and stores. In the range of the far- 
 thest side, arc the corn and straw barns, the threshing machine, 
 and the cattle-feeding byres, which also extend along the next 
 side, and are joined to the front range by a potato store. The 
 space in the rear, occupied by the extra cattle sheds, is balanced 
 by the stack or rick yard, which squares off with it. This, it 
 must be acknowledged, constitutes a very compact steading. It 
 may be noticed in passing, that the steaming apparatus for cook- 
 ing cattle food, is provided with a boiler separate from that of 
 the engine — the steamer consisting of an iron cylinder, hung 
 upon pivots, one end opening to the outside of the building within 
 the yard, so as to admit of being readily filled; and the mots, 
 when steamed, being easily turned out at once into vats or 
 vessels in the steaming house. 
 
 The arrangements of a large farm steading in Northumber- 
 land, than which, Mr. Ritchie remarks, few plans will be found to 
 
48 BERWICKSHIRE FEEDING STEADING — COMPLETE LOTHIANS DO. 
 
 combine more convenience and accommodation, are as follows : — 
 The form of the enclosure is oblong. A straw barn penetrates 
 the centre, being excellently placed to suit the cattle courts, cat- 
 tle sheds and hovels. On either hand and beyond it, the sheds 
 are surmounted by a granary, which is large, airy, and commo- 
 dious. Within the enclosure, occupying the spaces outside the cattle 
 courts, and next the side buildings, are the clean courts, in one of 
 which there is a dairy, with churns, to be driven by a shaft from 
 the engine. The outer range of buildings, beyond the one clean 
 court, are composed of potato and other stores, hen and tool houses 
 — that beyond the other, of work-horse stables and cart-sheds, both 
 entering from within the court. The foreman's dwelling house is 
 attached to one of the exterior front angles of the enclosure ; and 
 the engine house, machinery, and rick yard, project in the reai\ 
 
 The ground plan of the steading of a farm of considerable 
 extent in Berwickshire — one of the first farms in that county to 
 which the steam engine was applied — shows an arrangement, 
 whereby the cattle sheds and hovels occupy the entire central 
 space, from front to rear, the paved ways passing along each of 
 the sides within being connected in the middle, and thus divid- 
 ing the cattle sheds ; the corn and straw barns, with lofts above, 
 occupy one side range, and the cart-shed and work-horse stable 
 the other. The riding-horse stable, tool house, &c, are distri- 
 buted in the vacant angles ; and the engine house, &c, are at- 
 tached outside the range of the barns. 
 
 It would be unnecessary to multiply these examples farther, 
 were it not that it seems desirable to notice the disposition of 
 another steading, pronounced by one of the most intelligent far- 
 mers in the Lothians, to be as perfect and convenient as can be 
 adopted for a farm of a few hundred acres. The clean court, pe- 
 netrating by front and back gateways, right through the square 
 of offices, occupies the left. Along the range of buildings on this 
 side, are a store, loose-box stable, and cart-sheds for twelve carts, 
 with granary above. The rear range is occupied with the com 
 and straw barns, in connection with the engine and other ma- 
 chinery, inclusive of a chum, and at the right angle of the range, 
 calves and foals' hammels. There are, on the right of the clean 
 
A RAILWAY STACKYARD. 
 
 49 
 
 court, feeding byres for twelve cattle, cow byre, riding-horse 
 stable of three stalls, and gig house. With exception of a small 
 space for the piggery, the entire area behind these is covered with 
 feeding courts and their sheds or hovels, and with wintering 
 courts and their sheds or hovels, having in the centre troughs 
 for linseed cake. The work-horse stable occupies most of the 
 front range. The foreman's dwelling house, with its washing 
 green, is situated outside the left angle of the enclosure ; and 
 outside the right range, exist various conveniences, the rick yard 
 being near the barns, and machinery behind. Mr. Ritchie has 
 attempted to show that this plan admits of extension of the build- 
 ings as may be required. The exterior store-sheds may be used 
 for hammels ; and the granary, instead of forming as it does a 
 separate building, might be constructed to extend over the cart 
 lodges •, the thrashed grain, after being raised by elevators driven 
 by machinery to the corn loft, might, by means of a platform made 
 to turn under the arch of the covered way, admit of the grain 
 being wheeled on barrows into the granary, and the sacks of grain 
 being lowered by machinery into the carts for market. Nay, the 
 very decided advantages of carting the ricks from the yard at once 
 to the corn barn, where the crop is placed under the barn arch- 
 way and thrown into the loft, seems to have suggested the novel 
 but not impracticable idea of combining such a plan with a railw ay 
 — having each rick placed on a wheeled truck, and a whole stack 
 thus wheeled forward at a time under the covered way, or thrown 
 at once into the trucks, and all carting therefore dispensed with. 
 From the proximity of the straw bam also to the cattle courts, 
 and of the latter to the work-horse stable, it follows that the 
 manure from the stables can be thrown directly into the cattle 
 court, and mixed with that from the feeding and cow byres, 
 which the dry and fiery nature of the stable-yard manure very 
 much requires. There is no regular piggery on the plan in 
 question, that not being approved of, but the few swine kept 
 are allowed to run loose in the straw yard. The liquid manure 
 drains being covered over, terminate in a tank, the pump of which 
 might be worked by machinery, so as to fill the distributing carts 
 without trouble. 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 INTERSECTING RAILWAY FOR FARM STEADINGS. 
 
 In addition to these suggestions in reference to existing stead- 
 ings, Mr. Ritchie indulges in the proposition of a farmery, to be 
 intersected by a railway, or tramway of iron rails, constructed in 
 the cheapest manner, and adapted to the common railway gauge. 
 This seems, in his estimation, to open up a mode of embracing the 
 advantages which the agricultural system is destined to derive 
 from the railways, by leading in numerous level localities over the 
 country, to a direct branch railway to the farm steading, without 
 presenting any insurmountable obstacles from the expense or diffi- 
 culty of construction. The lines of rails laid down are understood 
 to be of the cheapest description, as, even where one branch from 
 a main line could be made to answer several farms, the traffic in 
 bringing manure to the farm, and in the disposal of grain, and 
 transporting of live stock, would not be distressing. We mention 
 these points, not as urging their application, but as entitled to a 
 place in a work such as ours, from the consideration that the day 
 may come for their adoption in whole or in part. From the 
 same cause, and at the same time as likely to be attended with 
 more immediate success, as in the case of the steading erected 
 by Colonel Macdowal at Auchness, we may also note the further 
 mechanical suggestions of Mr. Ritchie. He supposes the steam 
 engine then, to be applied to all purposes strictly connected with 
 the labour of the farm ; preparing food for cattle ; dairy purposes ; 
 the preparation, collection, and distribution of manure, &c. We 
 do not quite concur in this author's remark, that the position of 
 the different buildings of the steading, relatively to one another, 
 is a matter of mere opinion ; on the contrary, we hold that nothing 
 more certainly than this, marks superiority of design in farm 
 offices. We consequently perfectly accord in his observations, that 
 in designing a farmery, the great object is to make the buildings 
 compact, and that the dwelling house shall be conveniently situ- 
 ated with reference to the steading, as well as that every part of 
 the latter shall be mutually accessible — the straw barn suiting the 
 straw yards — the stack or rick yard lying conveniently to the 
 threshing-mill — the manure from the stables being easily con- 
 veyed from them into the cattle courts. By laying a narrow line 
 of rails or tramway, from end to end of the work-horse stables 
 
MR. I. J. MECHl's SUGGESTIONS FOR FARMERIES. 
 
 51 
 
 and cattle houses, and thence to the manure pit, placed at suffi- 
 cient distance from the farm steading, and covered over to prevent 
 the ammonia wasting itself whilst the effluvia is vitiating the air, 
 and injuring the health of the cattle (for nothing can be more inju- 
 rious to them, than breathing an atmosphere filled with unwhole- 
 some vapours, arising from putridity and vegetable decomposition), 
 a very great improvement would certainly be introduced, over the 
 present method of permitting the manure to go to waste and to 
 effect injury at the very stable door — where, by the bye, as well 
 as over the stable floor, an occasional sprinkling of gypsum, burnt 
 clay, or Irish peat-charcoal, would neutralize many of these evils. 
 By a strange coincidence, the Editor of the present work, whilst 
 writing the above, received from the celebrated Essex farmer, 
 Mr. I. J. Mechi, of Tiptree Hall, the following striking testimony 
 to the progress of these projected improvements, as well as of 
 some others, for advertence to which he is specially indebted to 
 Mr. Mechi, whose letter is worth entering upon record : — 
 
 " Tiptrek Hall, Kklvedon, 
 
 " Essex, December 15, 1851. 
 
 " My Dear Sir, — As to farm buildings, I have arrived at fixed con- 
 clusions, in regard to certain systems and principles — I mean, especially, open 
 boarded floors, for animals of all kinds except horses. Although, at first, 
 rather prejudiced against them, five years experience have convinced myself 
 and my workmen and feeders, that bullocks, pigs, and sheep, all thrive better 
 on the boards than on the straw. The latter is thus set free for feeding 
 purposes, and wo are thus enabled to keep more stock. I also find, that 
 wheat straw is far more nutritious than any other, only it requires to be cut 
 very fine, being so hard. My animals eat 110 bushels of it per diem, 
 
 " The boarded system would, of course, do away with the open yards. 
 My cows often calve on the boarded floors, and I never knew of any accident. 
 Of course, I like to give the cows a little exercise in a pasture daily. I have 
 kept 50 calves at a time on the boards from weaning, until they weighed from 
 500 lbs. to 800 lbs. each, nett. You see that this system avoids the necessity 
 of carting twice or making dung heaps. The manure is at once applied to the 
 soil. Burned clay ashes are useful to make it fill comfortably. 
 
 " Of course, steam power would be used in all new farmeries, together 
 with mill-stones, &c. I consider an iron tramway very essential, and the waste 
 steam should (after passing under and amongst a number of cast-iron cooking 
 
52 MR. MECHl's AND THE DUKE OF BEDFORD'S FARM STEADINGS. 
 
 pans) pass through large iron pipes, to warm the cattle houses. I often regret 
 that I had not so arranged my buildings. 
 
 " I was at a farmery last week, where all the stacks were on railway 
 trucks, 30 x 18, and were drawn up to the threshing barn when wanted, on 
 a railway, by a couple or three horses. It is a simple and cheap mode, if you 
 buy the old rails and truck wheels of a railway. 
 
 " I find the boarded floors are gradually extending their influence. 
 
 " All slating should have boards or thatch under it, to keep the buildings 
 cool in summer and warm in winter; and a fanner for the bullock sheds in 
 summer would keep away flies. 
 
 " I have a great objection to detached buildings — they admit a rush of 
 air and keep the yards cold. — Yours truly, 
 
 " I. J. Mechi." 
 
 " W. W. Fyfe, &c, Edinburgh." 
 
 This distinguished friend of agriculture, accompanies his kind 
 communication with a copy of his last brochure on British Agricul- 
 ture, best known as his " Balance Sheet," read before the London 
 Society of Arts, being an account of his own operations at Tiptree 
 Hall. He there laments, that " go where you will, you may find 
 abundant evidences of unused opportunities." He hopes that " the 
 time is coming, when we shall see more steam power employed in 
 agriculture but observes, that " at present the whole estimated 
 power for the United Kingdom is 8,000 horse power, or only 100 
 horse power for each million of acres ; in fact, in some [English] 
 counties, you can scarcely find one engine. This is not to be won- 
 dered at under the old laws, that prevent the removal of any 
 building or erections on the landlord's property — a greater pre- 
 mium to non-improvement never existed, acting with additional 
 force in the case of annual tenure." 
 
 " Amongst the many noble examples of agricultural improvement," says 
 Mr. Mechi, " may be quoted, the estates of His Grace the Duke of Bedford, in 
 Bedfordshire. There will be found the workings of a comprehensive mind, act- 
 ing concurrently in the vast improvement of an enormous rental, with the em- 
 ployment of labour and the production of food. The internal resources of the 
 estate are all availed of and applied upon the spot. Extensive tileries and 
 brick-works, powerful steam sawing and other machines prepare the raw mate- 
 rials, and aided by the little town of workshops, in every department, convert 
 the raw materials of the estate into convenient and permanent cottages, for a 
 healthful and contented peasantry ; and substantial and well arranged abodes 
 
VENTILATION OF STABLES AND BYRES. 
 
 53 
 
 and farmeries, for a highly intelligenced and well capitalled tenantry. Steam 
 power is used not only in the extensive and profitably managed home farms, but 
 upon others occupied by the tenantry. The comparison of this estate with 
 many others in the kingdom, suggests a long train of melancholy reflections on 
 the discrepancies of our national agriculture. What we want to impart to agri- 
 culture, is a higher tone and a dissatisfaction with our present position. These 
 bright examples, in particular districts, will no doubt tend much to this result." 
 
 Another of Mr. Mechi's ideas, already hinted at in his com- 
 munication to this work, is worthy of citation : — 
 
 " Reflecting," says he, " on the great question of cattle feeding, I am 
 daily more and more convinced of its general ill management, and of the great 
 difficulty of arranging the temperature of the season with our present ill- 
 arranged farmeries. Had I. to remodel my own, I would attach a fanner to 
 the steam engine for summer ventilation ; and in winter, the waste steam 
 should circulate in pipes through all my cattle houses — thus controlling the 
 fluctuations of some fifty degrees in the temperature, economising food and 
 increasing profit. I am well assured, that not a fly will venture in the summer 
 draught caused by a fanner. In winter, we see cattle with staring coats, ab- 
 solutely chasing each other about to keep up circulation, much as we should do 
 under the same circumstances. What a contrast this forms to the fat, sleek, 
 lazy lap-dog, eating little, but luxuriating in the radiation of a good register 
 stove ! The apoplectic enjoyments of warmth and tranquility, tell favourably 
 in the farmer's stock balance sheet." 
 
 Before descending to particularize the various plans of farm 
 offices, which form the more immediate subject of this treatise, 
 there are two points of such permanent interest to be adverted to, 
 that we are induced to enter at this stage upon their discussion, 
 rather than defer it, as we had once intended for a place in 1 la- 
 appendix. These topics are the most important ones of ventila- 
 tion (touched upon by Mr. Mechi), and the construction of the 
 liquid manure tank. 
 
 The ventilation of stables, byres, &c, has been proved by 
 dire experience, to be of much more consequence to agricultu- 
 rists, and especially to the owners of horses, though generally less 
 crowded together than cows, than is commonly acknowledged. 
 Young animals, taken from the pure air and succulent food of 
 the open fields, to be confined in close houses, and supplied with 
 dry food, will inevitably suffer in health and constitution, unless 
 
54 
 
 VENTILATION MR. MACGILLIVARAY's PLAN. 
 
 treated with due precaution. The manner in which horses dete- 
 riorate the air, by breathing, is well known. The air, during its 
 brief period in the lungs, is deprived of oxygen, the place of 
 which, carbon supplies ; so that carbonic acid gas, which does not 
 easily leave the building, is expired, and that from the ordinary 
 position of the horses' heads, generally with considerable force in 
 a downward direction. Ammonia or nitrogen, which is a little 
 lighter than atmospheric air, ascends ; but carbonic acid being 
 heavier, does not — the heat generated alone rarifying and dissi- 
 pating it to a considerable extent, so that, especially on its admix- 
 ture with atmospheric air by ventilation, it becomes much less 
 noxious than otherwise it would. The opinion is however enter- 
 tained by a veterinary surgeon of eminence (Mr. J. Macgillivaray, 
 M.E.C.V.S., Huntly, whom we have consulted on this subject), 
 that other means must be adopted to get rid of the acid than ven- 
 tilation. " It is well known," says he, " that lime and carbonic 
 acid have a strong affinity for each other. In the corner of each 
 stall, and in front of the horse, a small recess should therefore 
 be constructed in the wall ; and into this recess a box placed, 
 containing hydrate of lime." The purification of the air would, 
 he assures us, be promoted, by the absorption of the carbonic acid 
 into the lime — a small moveable grated door being placed in 
 front of the box, so as the lime might be exchanged when satu- 
 rated with the acid. This gentleman suggests for admission of 
 pure air, openings in the wall of the building betwixt the horses, 
 the external part of which should be i above the level of the floor, 
 and the internal part 4 above that level, giving the air an upward 
 direction rather above the animals, and permitting it rather to 
 descend by its own gravity than create currents. Tubes to facili- 
 tate the escape of nitrogen and heated air, he directs to be placed 
 at the ends of the stable, and at intervals along its roof, taking- 
 care to prevent the contaminated air and ammoniacal gases com- 
 ing in contact with the hay, often stored in the loft or gallery 
 above. The escape of ammonia and irritating vapours from the 
 urine and other filth, he regards as a fruitful source of incon- 
 venience to the animal — the probable cause and certain aggra- 
 vation of thrushes, canker, perhaps grease ; nay, as leading, from 
 
MR. NEIL BALLINGAL's VENTILATING SYSTEM. 
 
 55 
 
 vitiation of the constitution, to the still more appalling complaints 
 of farcy and glanders, diseases fatally dangerous to man in con- 
 nection with brutes. The urine, therefore, must be rapidly 
 conveyed away from the building, and a cesspool or tank becomes 
 necessary, and this effectually shut up from the air, else a cur- 
 rent will be sent along the drains to the stable, carrying with 
 it the effluvia of stagnated urine. For absorbing ammonia, this 
 gentleman further recommends the construction of shallow oblong 
 excavations in the floor, at such a distance from the stall, as to 
 prevent droppings falling into them, and indeed protected by a 
 strong cross-barred grating, moveable at pleasure. He proposes 
 to fill these with sulphuric acid, peat-charcoal, or any of the 
 fixers of ammonia, exposing as much surface as possible to the 
 air. A valuable manure would thus soon be formed. 
 
 But the proposition, which as a new and economical mode of 
 ventilating byres and stables has attracted most attention, is that, 
 emanating from Mr. Neil Ballingal, farmer, Seggie, Kinross-shire. 
 Founding, simply, on the property of heated air, to dilate and 
 ascend, and that of cold air to descend, Mr. Ballingall succeeded 
 in ventilating a byre, 40 x 16, having a tiled roof, with lath and 
 plaster under the tiles, the condensed breath of the cattle lb 
 continual operation on which had thrown it into a complete state 
 of disrepair, by causing the wood to fail and rot. Mr. Ballingal 
 raised the side walls in the first instance 2, placing at the head 
 of each animal an air slit, 2 deep, with i horizontal width exter- 
 nally, and widening till it internally had a horizontal width of 18. 
 Externally, this slit was about 8 from the ground, and it rose till 
 inside it was about 10, taking thus a much more elevated range 
 than though taking the same upward slanting direction as the 
 apertures suggested by Mr. Macgillivaray ; avc must say however, 
 that so far as we can leam, apertures on a level with the animal, 
 meet with more approval from practical men, if they can be 
 opened free of draughts. Accordingly, we have evidence, that 
 Mr. Ballingal' s mode of ventilation saved the rotting of the roof 
 timbers, but gave no security for its being the most approved style 
 of ventilation. When brought for discussion before the Highland 
 and Agricultural Society of Scotland, their Veterinary Professors 
 
56 
 
 LIQUID MANURE TANKS. 
 
 refused to certify its efficacy ; and Mr. Scott of Craiglockhart, 
 adduced against it the argument of the preponderating weight of 
 the carbonic acid gas, although the scientific men showed, that 
 the heat and consequent rarification would obviate that difficulty 
 to a very great extent. Finding still a discolouration of a portion 
 of the roof, Mr. Ballingal improved so far upon his plan, as to 
 construct two apertures, leaving a space for the heated air to have 
 egress as well as for the cold air to have ingress*, thus — In a 
 slate roof, he raised the lower edge of the slating by means of a 
 board, laid on blocks, on the outer edge of the wall, with aper- 
 tures an inch high between the board and wall, to admit the 
 ingress of a free current ; and underneath the second row of 
 slates, on both sides, letting the sarking be removed for the space 
 of about four inches from end to end, leaving board enough to 
 nail down the slates, and aperture for the gentle escape of the 
 heated air through the seams. In a tile roof, the under slip of 
 plaster lath is to be taken off the lowest row of tiles, and the top- 
 most row of tiles, under the ridge on each side, left free of lath 
 and plaster, from end to end of the byres. The plan is certainly 
 simple and economical ; and Mr. W. G. Bryson, the factor of 
 W. M. Alexander, Esq. of Ballochmyle, attests the adoption of the 
 system, without additional expense, in re-roofing a byre, 66 long, 
 in an exposed situation, and what is more, without any thing 
 to indicate outwardly any difference from an ordinary roof — 
 the roans effectually hiding the openings at the easing, and pre- 
 venting snow from entering. 
 
 Induced by its actual importance, and the growing attention 
 which the subject elicits, we also venture to enter into explana- 
 tions of the most approved method of constructing the liquid 
 manure tank. 
 
 Whatever the soil may prove to be on excavation, whether 
 rock, gravel, sand, or clay, the work cannot be made perfect 
 without puddling. Experience proves, that the neglect of this fact 
 at first will often entail more expense in repairs than puddling 
 would originally have cost. Any water standing in the excava- 
 tion must be drained off before laying in the puddle on which the 
 tank is to be built. The puddle should extend i'5 beyond the 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF MODE OF CONSTRUCTING TANKS. 
 
 57 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 iiiiiii 
 
 
 bottom of the brick or stone wall, forming the base of the outer or 
 puddle wall. The puddle must neither be too wet nor too dry, 
 but in condition to combine with solidity — both walls being 
 raised simultaneously, and the puddle well beaten down. The 
 
 strongest form of tank is 
 a round one. It is quite 
 as cheap as any other in 
 construction. Bricks are 
 preferable materials for 
 building; but when diffi- 
 cult to be had, rubble 
 stones may suit equally 
 well. Fig. 1 represents 
 the ground plan, showing 
 the flooring. The bottom 
 puddle must be paved with 
 bricks or flat stones, which 
 may be laid with a slight 
 inclination towards the 
 pump. All tanks ought to be covered with a flat arch of brick 
 or stone masonry, having a hatchway sufficiently large to admit 
 
 a man. Fig. 2 represents 
 the plan of roof, with hatch, 
 agitator, and pump. This 
 agitator is attached, as in 
 Figs. 3 and 4, to stir the 
 liquid when adding water 
 to it, so as to bring the con- 
 tents at the time of drawing 
 them off to a uniform po- 
 tency. Fig. 3 represents a 
 cross section of the tank, 
 showing pump and agitator. 
 Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sec- 
 tion, showing pump agitator and pipe for filling. The dimensions 
 of the tank will be determined by the number of cattle kept, the 
 purpose for which the liquid is intended, and the fact of the 
 cattle being kept and fed within doors, a practice now becoming 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
58 
 
 LIQUID MANURE TANKS, THEIR CAPACITY, ETC 
 
 mucli more general since recourse 
 has been had to soiling ; on most 
 farms, however, they are turned out 
 to pasture for five 
 or six months in 
 the year. In that 
 case, the quantity 
 of urine voided 
 will of course be 
 much less than if 
 they were fed the 
 whole year round 
 in the byre. The 
 kind of food will 
 make a sensible 
 difference — since 
 cattle fed princi- 
 pally upon succulent herbage invariably yield most liquid manure. 
 The quantity voided by a cow may be estimated at 1,200 gallons 
 per annum. That of two horses is 
 about equal to that of one cow. Five 
 cows kept within doors all year, will 
 equal ten cows sent to pasture half of 
 the year ; hence, in these cases, there 
 would have to be 
 provided a tank §|lp 
 for 7,000 gallons, 
 for, to 6,000 gal- 
 lons of urine must 
 be added 1,000 
 gallons of water, 
 as it is known, 
 that urine if un- 
 diluted, will set 
 free its ammonia 
 immediately after 
 fermentation has 
 begun. A square 
 
 Fie:. 4. 
 
% 
 
 SQUARE BUILT LIQUID MANURE TANKS. 59 
 
 built tank, measuring 12 long by 12 broad, and 8 deep, will con- 
 tain 7,168 gallons. For the sake of facilitating such calculations, 
 we subjoin tables of the number of gallons, contained in square 
 and round built tanks, of various dimensions : — 
 
 1. Square Built Tanks. 
 
 LENGTH. 
 
 BREADTH. 
 
 
 
 WHEN THE 
 
 DEPTH IS 
 
 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 3 Feet. 
 
 4 Feet. 
 
 5 Feet. 
 
 6 Feet. 
 
 7 Feet. 
 
 8 Feet. 
 
 9 Feet. 
 
 10 1 1 LI 
 
 6 by 3 
 
 336 
 
 448 
 
 560 
 
 672 
 
 
 
 
 
 0 . 
 
 A 
 
 . '± 
 
 447 
 
 598 
 
 745 
 
 890 
 
 
 
 
 
 fi 
 
 o . 
 
 . 0 
 
 558 
 
 744 
 
 930 
 
 1116 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 D . 
 
 . o 
 
 672 
 
 896 
 
 1120 
 
 1344 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 A 
 
 . 4: 
 
 522 
 
 696 
 
 870 
 
 1044 
 
 • a . 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 . 0 
 
 658 
 
 872 
 
 1090 
 
 1316 
 
 1526 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 . o 
 
 774 
 
 1132 
 
 1290 
 
 1548 
 
 1806 
 
 
 
 ... 
 
 / . 
 
 7 
 • / 
 
 903 
 
 1200 
 
 1505 
 
 1806 
 
 2107 
 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 O . 
 
 A 
 
 . 4 
 
 597 
 
 796 
 
 995 
 
 1194 
 
 1393 
 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 o . 
 
 c 
 
 . O 
 
 744 
 
 992 
 
 1200 
 
 1488 
 
 1736 
 
 1984 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 O . 
 
 a 
 . O 
 
 894 
 
 1192 
 
 1490 
 
 1788 
 
 2086 
 
 2384 
 
 
 
 8 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 1044 
 
 1392 
 
 1740 
 
 2088 
 
 2436 
 
 2784 
 
 
 
 8 . 
 
 . 8 
 
 1194 
 
 1592 
 
 1990 
 
 2388 
 
 2786 
 
 3184 
 
 
 
 9 . 
 
 . 5 
 
 840 
 
 1120 
 
 1400 
 
 1680 
 
 1960 
 
 2246 
 
 ... 
 
 
 9 . 
 
 . 6 
 
 1008 
 
 1444 
 
 1680 
 
 2016 
 
 2354 
 
 2688 
 
 
 
 9 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 1176 
 
 1568 
 
 I960 
 
 2354 
 
 2744 
 
 2936 
 
 3528 
 
 
 9 . 
 
 . 8 
 
 1344 
 
 1792 
 
 2240 
 
 2688 
 
 3136 
 
 3584 
 
 3942 
 
 
 9 . 
 
 . 9 
 
 1512 
 
 2016 
 
 2520 
 
 3024 
 
 3528 
 
 4032 
 
 4536 
 
 
 10 . 
 
 .. 5 
 
 930 
 
 1240 
 
 1550 
 
 1860 
 
 2170 
 
 2480 
 
 2790 
 
 
 10 . 
 
 . 6 
 
 1116 
 
 1488 
 
 1860 
 
 2232 
 
 2604 
 
 2976 
 
 3348 
 
 3720 
 
 10 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 1305 
 
 1740 
 
 2175 
 
 2610 
 
 304.-. 
 
 3480 
 
 3915 
 
 4350 
 
 10 . 
 
 . 8 
 
 1491 
 
 1988 
 
 2485 
 
 2982 
 
 3479 
 
 3976 
 
 4473 
 
 4970 
 
 10 . 
 
 . 9 
 
 1677 
 
 2236 
 
 2795 
 
 3354 
 
 3913 
 
 4472 
 
 5038 
 
 5590 
 
 10 . 
 
 ..10 
 
 1860 
 
 2480 
 
 3100 
 
 3720 
 
 4340 
 
 4960 
 
 5580 
 
 6200 
 
 11 . 
 
 .. 6 
 
 1233 
 
 1044 
 
 2055 
 
 2466 
 
 2877 
 
 3288 
 
 3699 
 
 4110 
 
 11 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 1437 
 
 1916 
 
 2398 
 
 2874 
 
 3356 
 
 3832 
 
 4311 
 
 4790 
 
 11 . 
 
 .. 8 
 
 1644 
 
 1992 
 
 2740 
 
 3288 
 
 3836 
 
 4384 
 
 4932 
 
 5480 
 
 11 . 
 
 .. 9 
 
 1848 
 
 2464 
 
 3080 
 
 3696 
 
 4312 
 
 4920 
 
 ."..-.4 1 
 
 6160 
 
 11 . 
 
 ..10 
 
 2055 
 
 2740 
 
 3425 
 
 4110 
 
 4 7!>:. 
 
 5480 
 
 6165 
 
 6850 
 
 11 . 
 
 ..11 
 
 2259 
 
 3012 
 
 3705 
 
 4518 
 
 5271 
 
 6024 
 
 0777 
 
 7530 
 
 12 . 
 
 .. 6 
 
 1344 
 
 1792 
 
 2240 
 
 2688 
 
 3136 
 
 3584 
 
 4032 
 
 4480 
 
 12 . 
 
 .. 7 
 
 1548 
 
 2064 
 
 2580 
 
 3096 
 
 3612 
 
 4128 
 
 4644 
 
 5160 
 
 12 . 
 
 .. 8 
 
 1788 
 
 2348 
 
 2980 
 
 2576 
 
 4172 
 
 4 708 
 
 5764 
 
 5!»00 
 
 12 . 
 
 .. 9 
 
 2016 
 
 2688 
 
 3360 
 
 4032 
 
 4004 
 
 5376 
 
 6048 
 
 0720 
 
 12 . 
 
 ..10 
 
 2232 
 
 2976 
 
 3720 
 
 4464 
 
 5208 
 
 5! 152 
 
 6696 
 
 7740 
 
 12 . 
 
 .11 
 
 2466 
 
 3288 
 
 4110 
 
 4932 
 
 5754 
 
 057(5 
 
 7399 
 
 8220 
 
 12 . 
 
 ..12 
 
 2788 
 
 3584 
 
 4480 
 
 5376 
 
 6272 
 
 7168 
 
 8064 
 
 8960 
 
60 ROUND BUILT LIQUID MANURE TANKS. 
 
 2. Round Built Tanks. 
 
 DIAMETER. 
 
 WHEN THE DEPTH IS 
 
 Feet. 
 
 3 Feet. 
 
 4 Feet. 
 
 5 Feet. 
 
 6 Feet. 
 
 7 Feet. 
 
 8 Feet. 
 
 9 Feet. 
 
 10 Feet. 
 
 4 
 
 234 
 
 312 
 
 390 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 363 
 
 484 
 
 605 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 525 
 
 700 
 
 875 
 
 1050 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 720 
 
 960 
 
 1200 
 
 1440 
 
 1680 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 933 
 
 1244 
 
 1555 
 
 1866 
 
 2177 
 
 2488 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 1185 
 
 1480 
 
 1975 
 
 2370 
 
 2765 
 
 2960 
 
 3555 
 
 
 10 
 
 1464 
 
 1952 
 
 2440 
 
 2928 
 
 3416 
 
 3904 
 
 4392 
 
 4880 
 
 11 
 
 1776 
 
 2368 
 
 2960 
 
 3552 
 
 4144 
 
 4736 
 
 5326 
 
 5920 
 
 12 
 
 2112 
 
 2816 
 
 3520 
 
 4224 
 
 4928 
 
 5632 
 
 6336 
 
 7040 
 
 Supposing the materials to be laid down free, and exclusive of 
 the cost of excavation, the following is an estimate of the expense 
 of the tank assumed to contain 7,168 gallons: — 
 
 42 yards, 6 square, building sides and ends, 18 brick 
 
 wall @ 7s £14 14 0 
 
 18 yards, square (9 brick arch) @4s 3 12 0 
 
 16 „ „ pavement @ 4s 3 4 0 
 
 Puddling sides, ends, and bottoms 1 5 0 
 
 £22 15 0 
 
 A water barrel, in proximity to the tank, should be placed so as 
 to receive rain water from the roans of the farm buildings, leading 
 to the tank by a pipe, with stop-cock for turning water off and on 
 into the tank at pleasure. When the urine is destined to be 
 added to the compost (the form in which it may perhaps be most 
 profitably employed from accelerating decomposition, and enter- 
 ing into the ingredients of the heap, so as to exert an influence 
 on succeeding crops, which cannot be effected from the liquid 
 manure), the tank will not require to be so large, as when the 
 urine is intended to be applied in a liquid state for top dressings, 
 for it will be frequently drawn off to saturate the compost. 
 
 Whilst on these subjects we may observe, that although it is 
 far from desirable to drain the dung heaps, the greater proportion 
 of liquid running from which, in their present mismanaged state 
 of exposure to the inclemency of the weather, is produced by rain 
 
LIQUID MANURE TANKS. 
 
 61 
 
 washing away the richest parts ; and above all things, as urged 
 by Sir Charles Napier, the hero of Acre, in a characteristic 
 address delivered by him at Falkirk, they ought to be protected 
 by the covering of a shed ; still, as there will be, even when 
 covered, a slight and however small an important drainage, it is 
 necessary to prevent waste, to have the bottom of the dung stance 
 a little convex, and inclining towards the inlet of the tank, which 
 will receive any escape of its value. 
 
02 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NEW AND IMPROVED EXAMPLES OF FARM STEADINGS. 
 
 Broomdykes Farm Offices with Specifications — Blackpotts Farm Offices and Accom- 
 modations — Cairn Hill Farm Offices — Sunlaws Hill Farm Offices — New 
 Mains Farm Offices — Offices designed for the Farm of Press. 
 
 I. BROOMDYKES FARM OFFICES. 
 (Plates VIII. and IX.) 
 
 This very complete suite of farm offices, erected in 1844-5, on 
 the estate of Sir George Houston Boswell, Bart., is situated im- 
 mediately behind Broomdykes farm house, already described, 
 fronting the south. The extreme length of the parallelogram, 
 occupied by buildings on three sides only, is 360 over the walls ; 
 its extreme width 220. 
 
 The ground plan exhibits the following arrangement — 
 
 On the north side or range — 
 
 Boiler and Engine Houses. 
 Toolhouse. 
 
 Cart Shed for eight Carts, with Granary above. 
 Barn, with Stair to Central Lofts. 
 
 Strawhouse, 50 long, surmounted by a platform, having a gangway 
 or passage along the back wall, communicating with the stableloft. 
 Stable for lb pairs of horses, with 
 Fodder House (interposed). 
 
 Roads of 20 wide surround the interior of the quadrangle, sepa- 
 rating the open sheds from the covered houses, and saving the 
 cattle from all disturbance, except in supplying them with food. 
 The roads also cross the centre of the quadrangle, from north to 
 south, and from east to west, thus dividing the central yards and 
 
BIIOOMDYKES FARM OFFICES AND ACCOMMODATIONS. 63 
 
 sheds into four clusters of five yards and sheds each — the two 
 northmost whereof are flanked by tanks, and partially infringed 
 upon by pigsties and privies. There are gates placed at the east 
 and west ends of the northern roadway fronting the barn range, 
 so as to give access to the cart sheds and stables (which ought 
 generally to be placed in a line) without intruding on the fold 
 yards. The object, indeed, of all the roads, is to give access to 
 each yard and house without the necessity of entering one to 
 reach another. The transverse roads are also essential to admit 
 the sun. 
 
 The western side or range is occiqned by — 
 
 Ventilated Feeding Byre. 
 Calf Pen. 
 Cow Byre. 
 
 Riding Horse Stable and Harness Room. 
 Gig House and Harness Room. 
 
 The east side or range is occupied by — 
 Byre. 
 
 Spare House. 
 Bull House. 
 Potato House. 
 
 Boiler for Food-Steaming House. 
 Poultry House, and 
 Steward's Cottage. 
 
 The 2*0 road with three gateways, traverses the entire southern 
 front, leaving it open to the full benefit of the sunny exposure, in- 
 tercepted only by a low wall. 
 
 An elevation on the line B B, of Plate VIII., as well as a 
 section on the line A A of the same plate, is shown in Plate IX. 
 The engine and boiler houses, projecting from the north back, 
 range at its centre, are in immediate contiguity with the barn and 
 straw house, and the latter with the stable and fodder-house, 
 whilst the strawhouse opens by a back door to the stable yard 
 behind. The relative positions of the feeding and clean courts, it 
 will also be seen, render them very accessible from these offices. 
 The limited accommodation for store pigs is taken off the yards 
 nearest the stables, the litter from which is held to form them 
 
64 
 
 BROOMDYKES FARM OFFICES AND ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 excellent beds, although we have lately seen this profitable branch 
 of store farming best followed up, by allowing the animals to 
 occupy the yards along with the cattle. In that case the sties 
 would serve for brood sows, &c. We would remark, that al- 
 though the smell of the pigsty is obviously offensive to cattle, the 
 presence of pigs, even in considerable numbers, in well-littered 
 feeding yards, seems to occasion no inconvenience even to the 
 most sensitive short horns, who will not thrive near a dairy cow. 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 Mason Work. 
 
 The contractor being to take down all the present offices, take out all the 
 foundations, and level throughout all the site of the new buildings, the old 
 stones will be used in the new buildings. The trenches for the foundations are 
 to be excavated one foot below the floors, and more if necessary, to obtain a 
 solid bearing for the walls. 
 
 The floors for the barns, stables, and byres, to be excavated to a sufficient 
 depth for the boarding and paving. 
 
 All the earth and rubbish produced by the excavations, or caused by the 
 erection of the buildings, to be removed to any convenient place that may be 
 pointed out. 
 
 The foundations to be formed with large flat bedded stones, and to be laid 
 9 broader than the dimensions shewn in the plans, and reduced by regular 
 offsets on each side to the proper thickness at the surface of the ground. 
 
 The buildings to be carried up of the form shewn in the plans and eleva- 
 tions, the whole of the division walls to be carried up to the roofs. 
 
 The barn and cottage door soles to be laid 6 inches above the courts. 
 Those of the other houses to be 3 and rounded off on the outside. Ruble arches 
 to be turned over all voids, and the inside walls to be properly pointed up 
 after the roofs are finished. 
 
 The foundations for all the court walls to be at least i below the surface 
 and laid 2 broad ; to be reduced to 18 at the surface, and carried up to the 
 height of 5% above the courts ; and to be 15 thick at the top, and finished with 
 a hammer dressed coping 9 deep. 
 
 Four dwarf walls, i thick, to extend along the corn barn floor, for sup- 
 porting the sleepers. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — MASON WORK. 65 
 
 The floor of the straw barn and poultry house to be filled in, i deep, with 
 small stones, and to be finished with a composition of lime, earth, and ashes, 
 3 thick, and where the straw falls from the machine, a space 6 square will be 
 laid with native pavement, properly dressed. 
 
 All the corners, doors, windows, pillars, arches, steps, skews, chimney 
 tops, plinths, jambs, lintels, and hearths, to be of clean chiselled freestone. 
 The inband rybats to go through the walls, the outbands and corners to be at 
 least 20 long. The rybats of the doors and windows to have 6 droved breasts, 
 and to have 2 margins draughted on the face and broached tails. 
 
 The sockets for stable stall posts to be morticed and cbampfered on the 
 upper edges ; these stones to be is square and 12 deep. The byres to have 
 curb stones 5 thick, dressed on the top. 
 
 The feeding cribs to be built 2^ high, and finished on the top with scappled 
 pavement. Tbe angles of all the scontions in the cattle sheds to be cbamp- 
 fered. 
 
 The engine chimney to be carried up with tbe best ib brick work from tbe 
 stone plinth, which will be chiselled ; the flues to be lined with fire bricks. 
 The floor of the engine house to be laid with droved pavement, well jointed. 
 The two stones for the seat of the engine to weigh one ton each, and to be pre- 
 pared according to the engineer's instructions. 
 
 The contractor to build in the boiler and to provide the fire bricks and 
 other bricks required for that purpose. 
 
 The cottage partitions will be of brick on bed ; tbe kitchen, closet, and 
 lobby floors, will be laid with droved and jointed pavement ; all the flues plas- 
 tered, and the room provided with jambs, slabs, and back hearths, of rubbed 
 freestone. 
 
 The whole of the walling to be of the best rubble building, the stones laid 
 flat, on their natural beds, and closely bedded together with a due proportion of 
 good lime mortar, thoroughly mixed and beat up before being used. 
 
 The inside of all the walls in the corn barn, granaries, stables, poultry 
 house, harness rooms, gig house, and boiler house, to have one coat of plaster 
 well rubbed in and smoothly finished. 
 
 The stables, byres, and all the other enclosed houses, except where other- 
 wise specified, to be neatly causewayed with stones, 4 deep, set in sand, hating 
 suitable channels for conveying the water from them. 
 
 A channel to be paved all round tbe three sides of the square, 3 wide, and 
 the whole of the roadways to be finished with proper road metal i] deep, and 
 finished on the top with a coating of clean gravel. All tbe courts and sheds 
 to be levelled throughout. 
 
 The drains leading into the two tanks from the byres, sheds, and courts, to 
 be formed with 6 pipes, the iron gratings to be 12 square. 
 "E 
 
66 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS — MASON WORK — JOINER WORK. 
 
 The two tanks to be formed with 9 brick work, plastered with Roman 
 cement, i' thick, and the covers to be of strong Caithness pavement. 
 
 A common sewer will be carried through the straw barn door, into which 
 the different channels will be carried for surface water. 
 
 Joiner Work. 
 
 The lintels over voids to have a wall hold of 12 at each end, and to be i in 
 thickness for every foot of opening they cover in, and of such breadth as the 
 walls require. 
 
 The rafters for the houses of 16 wide to be 6 at bottom and 5 at top by 2\. 
 Collar beam or baulks to be 5 x 2. The rafters for the barns, stables, and 
 granary to be 6^ at bottom, and 5j at top, by 2\ thick ; the baulks to be '5 x 2- 
 The rafters for the sheds and pigsties to be &\ at bottom, and 'i\ at top by 2\ 
 thick ; baulks to be 4 x 2. The cupples to be set on wall plates, 6^ x \\, and 
 placed at the distance of 22 apart from centres, the hip rafters to be 7 x 2. 
 The tile laths to \\ x \\. 
 
 All the roofs to have tie joists, 6| x nailed to the foot of every fourth 
 cupple. 
 
 The bridging joists for the granary to be 6^ x 2 J ; to have 12 of wall hold 
 at each end, and to be notched down upon the girders, at the distance of 20 
 from centres. The girders to be 12^ deep, and 6^ thick, with is of wall hold at 
 each end. 
 
 The feeding cribs to have front board, 6^ x and secured at every 6 to 
 the stone work with iron chairs, so as to allow the boards to be taken out at 
 pleasure. 
 
 The sleeper joists for the barn to be 6^ x 2 J, and set up on %\ x wall 
 plates, at the distance of 18 apart. The joisting for the upper barn floor to 
 be lb x 2 J inches, and to be set upon 8x2 wall plates, at the distance of 18 
 apart, and to have 18 of wall hold at each end. 
 
 The whole of the sleepers and joisting for the barns and granary to be 
 covered with red Dram batten flooring, i| thick, dressed, grooved, and tongued. 
 The stair to the granary to be formed out of i' \ deal for treads and risers, and 
 the strings to be 2 thick. 
 
 All the stables, gig house, and harness rooms, to have 7 red Dram batten 
 joisting, with 14 of wall hold at each end, 24 apart from the centres, dressed ; 
 and all to be covered with \ inch dressed, grooved, and tongued flooring, not 
 more than 8 broad. The cottage will have lofting and joisting of the same kind 
 and dimensions. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — JOINER WOKK. 
 
 67 
 
 All the doors to be made of dressed, beaded, tongued and grooved red 
 battens, with three cross bars, 6^ x on each door, of the same material. 
 The stables, potato house, gig house, barns, and hay house doors, to be hinged 
 in two halves, with strong crooks and eyes, well bolted to the doors. The two 
 gates at the east and west ends of the barn range, to be framed, as shown, with 
 a small doorway in each. The whole of the iron-work to be of approved 
 strength and quality, and the sliding bars to be i\ x oak, boxed in i' Memel 
 deal into the walls. The doors to have a cope on the top ; the gig house, hay 
 house, and potato house doors, to have strong centre bars with staples, and 
 3s. 6d. locks. 
 
 All the other doors to have folding ring latches, 8 long. The corn barn 
 and the granary to have each a stock lock of the value of 10s. All the other 
 doors to have locks of the value of 5s. each ; and the houses that have more 
 than one door, must have an iron rod bolt, 14 long, and I inch thick. The 
 cottage doors to have good thumb latches and hinges of sufficient strength. 
 
 The windows to be all framed of 2 stuff, the upper part to be glazed with 
 third crown glass, and the under part to have sliding sparred frames, the spars 
 to be 3 x i. The rails to be jj£ x i£, and the openings to be 2 wide. 
 
 The barn windows to be secured with | inch square iron stanehcons, 4 J 
 apart, let into the soles and lintels, and strengthened in the centre with an iron 
 bar, 2| x oh, and the whole batted in with lead. All the granary windows to 
 have \ inch iron rods, \ inch apart, let into the wooden frames, which will 
 be 4 x 2^ ; all the boards to be of i deal, with two cross bars on each, and 
 to be hinged in two halves ; and the south window boards to have each a pane 
 of glass glazed into them. The hinges and fastenings to be of sufficient 
 strength. 
 
 The engine house roof will be of the same strength and quality as described 
 for the barns ; and the hip rafters 9x2; the two doors will be the same as 
 described for the stables. 
 
 The privy and pigsty doors to be made of i Memel deal, with sufficient 
 crooks and eyes. The privy seats to be made of i\ deal, with a hinged flap to 
 each. The doors for the feeding ports, in all the sheds and byres, to be made 
 of i' Memel deal, with crooks and eyes of proper strength. 
 
 The stables to have stalls, as shown in the plan, the stalls to extend 9 from 
 the wall to the heel posts ; the posts to be (i square, and tennoned into a run- 
 beam, 4x7, the under end to be tennoned into the stone sockets. All the posts 
 to be champfered ; the stall boards to be l.V thick, and groved into the heel 
 posts, 2 deep; the stalls to be 6, 6 high before, and 5 high behind. The stalls 
 to have an upright spar nailed on each side, 4 x i^-. 
 
 The fore posts to be i£ x 2 each piece, and well nailed to the boarding. 
 
 The racks to be 2, 10 broad, and the side rails to be 3^ x '*>\ ; the spars to 
 
68 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS — JOINER WORK. 
 
 be 2 iii diameter, and 3^ apart ; the mangers to be wide at top, lb at bottom, 
 and 9 deep, all inside measure ; the boarding to be all deal, and to have a 
 front rail, 3^ x 2^, into which double staples will be fixed with good iron rings ; 
 the mangers to be kept 4 from the walls, and a skirting to be fixed to the 
 manger, 6 broad by i'£ thick. 
 
 A plank will be built into all the stable walls, 5x3, into which pins will 
 be morticed, 14 long and 3 x 
 
 The lintels for the feeding sheds to be 6^ deep, and 16 broad, and to have 
 18 of wall hold at each end. 
 
 The gates to be of the form shown in the elevation, and the framing to be 
 2\ thick, and 6 broad ; each gate to be in two halves ; the whole to be covered 
 with f inch deal, \ inch apart, finished with a good cope, and fixed in the 
 centre with a strong hard wood bar, a bolt, and open staples at each end. The 
 crooks and bands for all these gates to be of approved strength, well bolted 
 to the gates. The whole to be properly framed and dressed. The posts 
 to be 8 in diameter, of sound larch, and sunk 3 into the ground, with proper 
 braces. 
 
 The poultry house to be fitted up with four rows of nests round two sides, 
 all of which may be done with the old materials. The byres to have sole and 
 runtrees, 6 square, into which hard wood stall posts, of 4 diameter, will be mor- 
 ticed below, and fixed at the top with a f inch screw bolt. 
 
 The straw barn to have a girder, with platform as figured ; as also the 
 gangway or passage, along the back wall, leading into the stable loft. The 
 principal girder to be 6 thick, and ii deep of Memel, and all the other joists 
 and bridgings of 7 red Dram, battens properly framed together, the boarding 
 for the flooring to be of i deal, and a hand rail, 2\ x 3, to be fixed all round 
 the outside, having sufficient upright standards. 
 
 The screen upon which the straw falls to be of iron, having f inch rods, 
 rivetted into two ends, i\ x ; the rods to be 5 apart, and the whole to be 
 hinged at the wall, and to fix, when up, with a strong flat hasp and bolt ; and 
 when down, to be supported with two iron legs and stay irons. 
 
 The steward's house to have sashes, glazed with third crown glass, and deal 
 soles, i thick ; the closet or pantry to have three shelves, i thick, and 15 broad, 
 well fixed up ; the frames for the doors and standards to be of the best old tim- 
 ber, and of such strength as will suit the brick work. The doors for the 
 kitchen, rooms, and closet, to be of f inch deal, made in the usual manner, and 
 with the windows to have i\ x of facings and skirtings ; the two fire places to 
 have a neat shelf ; the garret to have a hinged hatch, and a step ladder (see 
 Appendix), made out of i\ deal, 6 broad. 
 
 The joiner to make all the centres for the mason, and the mason and slater 
 also to have the use of the roofing for scaffolding. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — JOINER, SLATER, AND PLASTER AVORK. 
 
 69 
 
 The whole of the sound foreign timber, as well as the larch, will be used 
 for such purposes in the new offices as they may best suit. 
 
 The rafters, joisting, safe lintels, stall posts, sole and runbeams, flooring, 
 doors and windows, and boards for windows, tile lathes and gates, will be of 
 sound Memel, or Norway timber, and all the other timber required, may be 
 of the best yellow pine. 
 
 The joiner will provide all the materials and carriages that may be required 
 to complete the works herein specified. 
 
 The whole of the outside wood work will be twice painted in white lead 
 and oil. 
 
 Should any doubts arise as to the meaning of the specification or the plans, 
 the same shall be referred to the inspector, whose decision shall be binding on 
 both employer and employed. 
 
 Slater Work. 
 
 The tile laths to be nailed on to the rafters, at io apart from centres, with 
 the best lOd. rose nails. 
 
 The whole of the roofs to be covered with the sound old tiles, so far as they 
 will go ; and the contractor to provide, of the best quality, what more may be 
 required to complete the works. 
 
 The tiles to be close laid, and pointed on the inside with plaster lime, well 
 rubbed in. The ridges and hips to have ridge tiles, and with the skews to be 
 neatly pointed up. The granary roof to be lathed on the tile laths with the 
 best split laths, and the nails to be of sufficient strength ; the lath work to be 
 finished with two coats of plaster, free from cracks or blisters ; the tiles of the 
 granary not to be pointed on the under side, except one or two courses at 
 the eaves. 
 
 The contractor will provide all the materials and carriages. 
 
 Plaster Work. 
 
 The whole of the upper and under barns, the granary, steward's cottage, 
 riding stable, and two harness rooms, as well as the back Malls of the other 
 stables, to be finished with two coats of plaster. 
 
 The plasterer will provide all the materials and carriages to complete the 
 work. 
 
70 
 
 BLACKPOTTS FARM OFFICES AND ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 II. BLACKPOTTS FARM OFFICES. 
 
 (Plates X. and XI.) 
 
 Erected in 1848 for W. F. Home, Esq., in the parish of Colding- 
 ham, in the neighbourhood of St. Abbs' Head, at a cost of £816, 
 the ground plan of these offices is to the square just described, 
 what the farm house of Blackpotts itself (Plates V. and VI.) is 
 to that of Broomdykes (Plates III. and IV.), the one being an 
 approach to the IL form, more perfectly developed in Cairn Hill 
 farm offices (Plates XII. and XIII.), while the other is perfectly 
 square upon the plan. The figure of Blackpotts Farm Steading 
 is properly a parallelogram, presenting its narrow end south- 
 wards, of about 100x 186 (not including the engine house exten- 
 sion). Under this configuration it is traversed laterally by a grand 
 causeway of 25 wide, contracted at the gateway by the encroach- 
 ment of the poultry house from the east, passing in front of the 
 whole western range of offices, and having the range of feeding 
 courts on the opposite side, forming, in fact, from its ample width, 
 and almost central position, an extensive clean court to the stead- 
 ing. A supply of water, by a feeding pipe from the north, is 
 afforded to the water trough, centrically placed in the clean court, 
 and thence to two other troughs intermediate to, and situated 
 immediately within the gates of each pair of feeding courts. Two 
 minor roads flank the cluster of courts on the north and south, 
 leaving them totally undisturbed. The position of the corn barn 
 in the north western angle, in immediate connection with the 
 machinery, and running north and south, where not sheltered by 
 the engine house, is well protected — that of the granary over the 
 cart shed being altogether in the approved line of direction. The 
 drainage sloping diagonally from the byre at the north east angle 
 to the centre of the nearest cattle court, is conducted thence in a 
 direct line to an oblong tank, constructed outside the south front, 
 in the immediate proximity of the pigsty and privy, with an 
 overflow drain passing eastwards to the dung heap. The design 
 of the roof over the stables and engine house, with the floors of 
 
BLACKPOTTS FARM OFFICES AND ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 71 
 
 the granary, upper barn, and gangway ; as also the western 
 elevation of the buildings within the court, on the line marked 
 A B in Plate X. are all given in Plate XL 
 
 The ground plan accommodation is therefore as follows — 
 
 On the icest — 
 
 Loose House. 
 Stable, 50 x is. 
 Gig House. 
 Cart Shed. 
 Barn (Stairs). 
 
 Engine House, Boiler House, Coals. 
 
 On the north — 
 
 Straw Barn with back entrance. 
 Byre with Cribs. 
 Bull House (on east). 
 
 In the centre — 
 Clean Court, 150 x 25. 
 
 Feeding Courts, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, each 28 x 41, 
 
 with Cribs and Joint Water Troughs. 
 Sheds thereto 28 x 15. 
 
 In front — 
 
 Riding Stable. 
 Entrance. 
 Poultry House. 
 Pigsties. 
 Privy. 
 
 Closed Court. 
 Byre. 
 
 There are, besides these accommodations, granary and upper 
 barn floors and gangway, as already noticed. The specifica- 
 tions for Broomdykes are sufficiently general for adaptation to 
 this steading. 
 
T2 
 
 CAIRN HILL FARM OFFICES AND ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 III. CAIRN HILL FARM OFFICES. 
 
 (Plates XII and XIII.) 
 
 The advantage of the foregoing mode of arrangement becomes 
 more apparent from the peculiar situation and exposure of these 
 farm buildings, in which the 1L plan is so far carried out, that the 
 whole of the houses in which much traffic exists, as byres, vealing 
 and lambing houses, courts, and sheds, poultry and pigsties are 
 projected completely in front, and the entrance into the clean 
 court of 48 in width, except where infringed upon by the turnip 
 stores, is effected at once from the angle of the plan, where 
 the access is walled off from the adjoining garden. It will be 
 observed, from the broad arrow (Plate XII.), that Cairn Hill 
 offices, running east and west, face the east at their end front, and 
 therefore that the extreme width of the courtway, which traverses 
 the whole in that direction, admits the sun to the feeding courts 
 ranged on the north. Three large turnip stores are constructed in 
 conjunction with and opening into the feeding cribs belonging to 
 the several cattle courts, one to each pair of courts. This is a 
 steading provided with water power, which is applied at the 
 south-west angle ; and in Plate XIII. the back elevation of the 
 barn shows a section through the pit, in which the overshot water 
 wheel is accommodated. In this last plate are also seen the 
 elevations of the barns and stables, along the south interior of the 
 quadrangle ; and of the feeding sheds on the north of the cattle 
 courts. 
 
 The summary of ground plan accommodation presents there- 
 fore — 
 
 On the south — 
 
 Stables. 
 Straw Barn. 
 Chaff House. 
 Corn Barn. 
 Water Wheel. 
 Bins for Grain. 
 
CAIRN HILL FARM OFFICES AND ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 73 
 
 On the west ■ — - 
 Gangway. 
 
 Cart Shed with Granary over it. 
 
 Gig House. 
 
 Bull House. 
 
 Feeding Byre. 
 
 (Corn Yard in the rear.) 
 
 On the north — 
 
 Three Sets of Feeding Courts with Cribs. 
 Turnip Stores attached and 
 Sheds Corresponding. 
 
 Projecting towards the west part — 
 
 Pigsties. 
 
 Boiler House. 
 
 Poultry House. 
 
 Court and Sued for Lambs. 
 
 Byre, Court, and Tank. 
 
 House for Calves. 
 
 Farm Servants' Byre and Court. 
 
 The drainage commencing at the feeding byre in the north-west 
 angle traverses the cattle courts, &c, in a direct line to the oblong 
 tank, situated in the small front court, and the overflow is con- 
 tinued in the same direction. The advantageous position of the 
 poultry house, in respect of warmth, as being interposed betwixt 
 the boiler house and byre is worthy of notice. 
 
74 
 
 SUNLAWS HILL FARM OFFICES. 
 
 IV. SUNLAWS HILL FARM OFFICES. 
 (Plate XIV.) 
 
 On an elevated situation in Roxburghshire, this compact and 
 elegant suite of farm offices was erected for William Scott Kerr, 
 Esq. of Chatto and Sunlaws, so lately as 1851. The Plate, 
 combining in one both ground plan and elevations, exhibits the 
 character of the erections at a glance. The steward's house and 
 smaller offices are in front, as seen in the elevation on the line 
 A B. The steading is laterally traversed by the open causeway 
 or court, passing in front of the cart-shed, barn, and stable range 
 (behind which, without, is the engine and boiler), as seen in the 
 elevation on the line C D. The hay house (in juxtaposition with 
 the stable), and the feeding byre, with intermediate store having 
 a back door, occupy the furthest end of the parallelogram. The 
 internal arrangements show a series of five feeding courts, having 
 roofed cribs on the one hand, joint water supplies on the other, 
 besides sheds and joint turnip stores at the other extremities, 
 respectively. This really enumerates the accommodation ; which, 
 however, may be more minutely traced in the Plate, on which, 
 though small, the whole subdivisions are strictly laid down to 
 scale. The former specifications may be applied. 
 
NRWMA1NS FARM OFFICES. 
 
 75 
 
 V. NEW MAINS FARM OFFICES. 
 
 (Plates XV. and XVI.) 
 
 New Mains Farm Offices now in process of erection for George 
 Home, Esq., are situated in the parish of Coldingham, and ex- 
 hibit an elegant disposition of accommodations, arranged within 
 a square. The access to the open court is by an archway dividing 
 the cart-sheds, which occupy the south, opening to the interior of 
 the open court, and flanked, on either hand, by the gig and tool 
 house, adjoining which, respectively, but on the east and west 
 ranges, are the riding stable and com barn. This latter is situated 
 at the south-west angle. The horse wheel is constructed without. 
 Besides the corn barn, the chaff house, straw house, and stable, 
 (with loose house in the adjoining northern range), are on the west; 
 and besides the riding stable, the poultry and boiler house, potato 
 house, byre and calves' house, are on the east. The calves' house 
 and byre, as also the potato house, enter from without the square, 
 the latter communicates with the boiler house, which has an en- 
 trance to the open court, near the cattle courts and pigsties. A 
 flue from the boiler is conducted around the poultry house to 
 impart warmth. The cattle courts are intersected by a drain, 
 flowing into a tank sunk in the castmost, with feeders from the 
 byre and pigsties. There is an upper corn barn with a stair in 
 the angle of the lower one, and also a granary range over the 
 cart-sheds. It will be perceived from the elevations, Plate XVI. 
 that the erections, not excepting the cattle-sheds on the line C D, 
 are at once elegant and substantial, and from the arrangement 
 and proportions of their details, possess a fine symmetrical effect. 
 
76 
 
 OFFICES DESIGNED FOR THE FARM OF PRESS. 
 
 VI. PLAN OF FARM OFFICES. 
 (Plates XVII. and XVIII.) 
 
 This, which may in several respects be considered an improve- 
 ment upon some of the preceding designs, more especially in con- 
 nection with the feeding system, was prepared for James Mack, 
 Esq., for the farm of Press, Coldingham, and has not hitherto 
 been executed. The water power happens to be applied upon 
 the south, along which the barn, stable, and cart-range, has con- 
 sequently been placed ; the adjoining sides are devoted to byres 
 and minor offices. The entrance is by an archway on the west, 
 into the spacious quadrangle which traverses the whole length of 
 the interior, having on the north the cattle feeding courts not only 
 with water troughs inserted, but with joint turnip stores penetrat- 
 ing betwixt the cribs, so as to supply two of them at once through 
 apertures in the walls. Plate XVIII. shows the handsome 
 entrance elevation on the line A A (Plate XVII.), in which the 
 symmetry is preserved by a false main door or gateway. A 
 section through the store and cribs B B (Plate XVII.) shows the 
 structure of their roof and even of the cribs and feeding aper- 
 tures, which is further exemplified by a plan of part of the cribs, 
 &c, on a similarly enlarged scale. 
 
77 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 COTTAGE ACCOMMODATION. 
 
 Our Practical Examples — Their Approval by the Highland and Agricultural Society 
 
 — Report on Cottage Premium, 1851, awarded to W. F. Home, Esq. — Billie 
 Mains Farm Cottages — Ground Plan and Accommodations — Specifications, 
 Mason Work, Carpenter Work, Slater Work, Plaster Work, Plumber Work — 
 Billie Mains Steward's Cottage — Huxton Cottage with Specifications — North 
 Falla-Knowe Cottages — Eyemouth Mill Cottages with Specifications — Cairn 
 Hill Cottages — Milldown Cottages with Specifications — Reston Hill Cottages 
 
 — East Reston Mill Cottage — Swinewood Mill Cottage — Improvement of 
 Cairncross Cottages with Specifications — Whitemvre Cottages, Allanbank 
 Estate, with Specifications — Plans for Improvement of Four Cottages at 
 Whitecross — Allanbank Mill Cottages — Sunnyside Cottages — Simla Wl Hill 
 Cottages — Gardener's Cottages also intended for an Entrance Lodge — Trades- 
 man's Cottage. 
 
 Having dwelt in our preliminary chapter on the progress of 
 Cottage Improvement at such length, as a subject of so great 
 importance and absorbing interest appeared to demand, it remains 
 for us only to embark on the details connected with those prac- 
 tical examples we are fortunately enabled to furnish. The expe- 
 rience of the author of the present designs happens to have been 
 extremely extensive in this popular walk of Rural Architecture. 
 And what is more, his plans have met with the approbation of 
 the highest possible authority that could be appealed to upon the 
 question of their merits — having carried off the gold medal of the 
 Highland and Agricultural Society in the Cottage Competition of 
 1851. It may be more particularly stated, that the Committee 
 of this public body, after a careful examination of the plans 
 submitted to them, selected three of the cottages subsequently 
 described, viz., Huxton Cottage (Plates XXIV. and XXV.), Billie 
 Mains Steward's House (Plate XXIII.), and Milldown Cottages 
 (Plate XXX.), all erected for W. F. Home, Esq. of Wedderburn 
 
78 
 
 OUR PRACTICAL EXAMPLES. 
 
 and Billie, to be compared with another select cottage elsewhere ; 
 and at a subsequent meeting, Mr. Home's Cottages, particularly 
 those of Huxton and Milldown, were found to be superior. 
 
 The inspectors officially appointed on this occasion, examined 
 both the recently built and improved cottages on Mr. Home's 
 estates ; and as the object of this work is to point out defects as 
 well as advantages appertaining to the structures of which it 
 treats, we take the liberty of adducing the substance of their 
 report ; were it the etiquette to state the names of the inspectors, 
 their opinion would be held of vast practical value. It was to the 
 effect, that the whole of the new erections were of the most sub- 
 stantial description, and a very great improvement on those which 
 they had replaced, indeed, superior to any thing of the kind that 
 the inspectors had met with in Berwickshire. The features which 
 particularly struck them as worthy of notice were — 1st. The full 
 accommodation given in them, consisting of two separate apart- 
 ments below, and one above, in which beds can be placed, each 
 having a loft the full size of the cottage, with convenient access 
 to it, and sufficient height betwixt the floor and the cupple baulk 
 to admit of the space thus afforded being really available to the 
 inmates. 2d. The provision of a small scullery and milk place 
 as separate apartments — the former, besides its convenience, 
 admitting of the kitchen being kept more tidy than could other- 
 wise be practicable, and the latter enabling the cottager to turn 
 the produce of his cow to better account — as the want of a proper 
 milk house frequently deteriorates the quality and value of the 
 butter made by our farm servants. They expressed themselves 
 much pleased with the addition of a furnace pot, which they 
 observed in the scullery of the cottages more recently erected ; 
 as also, of cast iron kitchen grates, with oven at one end and 
 boiler at the other ; these fixtures seemed to be much prized by 
 the people. 3d. They also expressed themselves gratified, by see- 
 ing the attention which had been bestowed in suiting the plan of 
 these cottages to the actual circumstances and wants of the class 
 of people for whom they are intended. The farm servants of that 
 county, they observe, invariably possess certain definite articles 
 of furniture, which may vary in material and workmanship, but 
 
THEIR APPROVAL BY THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 79 
 
 never in dimensions, so that no cottage can suit them which is 
 not constructed with reference to this uniform standard of cottage 
 furniture. Being yearly servants, and liable to frequent flittings, 
 this fixed standard in their principal pieces of furniture, obviates 
 many inconveniences which would otherwise be felt. As they 
 usually possess but two bedsteads of their own, the inspectors 
 were pleased with the addition of a fixed iron one, in the smaller 
 room of the most recently erected of these cottages. 4th. They 
 observed further, that the whole of these cottages had the floor of 
 the under storey carefully laid with flags or bricks — a very great 
 improvement upon the clay floor usually met with — and also, that 
 they are all raised a step above the exterior level. The road way 
 in front and behind, and the courts of the outhouses, are all 
 paved, and the eaves spouted, which things, taken together, keep 
 the cottages cleaner and dryer than could otherwise be the case. 
 5th. The whole of these cottages are provided with outhouses, com- 
 prising a pigsty, coal cellar, and rain water barrel for each, with 
 ash pits and privies, either for each, or common to two or three. 
 Where there is a privy to each cottage, these seemed to be used 
 and kept clean, but not otherwise. Gth. All the cottages are 
 provided with ample means for drainage and ventilation. 7th. 
 The plan of those at Milldown pleased the inspectors best of any. 
 The back door in those at Billie Mains, &c, while giving ready 
 access to the outhouses, appeared to them objectionable, from the 
 draught which it caused through the cottage ; and in practice, 
 the front door seemed to be little used. 8th. The cost of most of 
 these cottages had been considerable, but to some extent that had 
 arisen from the attention bestowed on outward appearance. As 
 the convenience and comfort of the occupants had in no instance 
 been sacrificed to this (as has often been the case), the landlord 
 could not more legitimately spend a little money in the embellish- 
 ment of his estate. The plan and general arrangements would 
 be equally complete, although the workmanship had been ever 
 so plain. 9th. They were gratified by observing, that the ma- 
 jority of the inmates of these cottages showed a laudable ambition 
 to keep their improved dwellings clean and tidy, and several of 
 
80 REPORT ON COTTAGE PREMIUM AWARDED TO W. F. HOME, ESQ. 
 
 them expressed themselves as having experienced a great addition 
 to their comfort since they got them. 
 
 In looking at the cottages which had simply undergone im- 
 provements upon their original construction, such as Cairncross 
 Cottages (Plate XXXIV.), the inspectors observed, that the object 
 aimed at by these improvements had been to introduce the same 
 features which they had noticed in the preceding part of their 
 Eeport — by raising and flagging the ground floor, introducing 
 brick partitions and an additional fireplace in the bed room — by 
 plastering the walls and putting in a loft. The same number of 
 outhouses had been added, and the same paving of the roadways 
 and courts as in the case of the new buildings. The apartments 
 at Cairncross and Blackpotts, it is right however to add, they 
 regarded as inconveniently small, and as no additional height 
 had been given to the walls, the loft was unavailing, from its 
 closeness to the roof. 
 
 " In conclusion," they observe, " we cannot refrain from 
 expressing the gratification which we have experienced from the 
 inspection of so many cottages of such a superior description. It 
 has long been matter of observation, that the cottages of the farm 
 servants are quite inferior to the other farm buildings in this 
 county. This is every way to be regretted, and the more so, as 
 there is not a more orderly and well deserving class of people in 
 the whole community. It is our belief, that all attempts to 
 improve their habits, as regards decency, cleanliness, and neat- 
 ness, will be comparatively fruitless, until they are furnished with 
 better dwellings and other conveniences." 
 
 After this authoritative and comprehensive survey of their 
 merits, to which, for its general penetration and ability, too much 
 deference cannot be paid, it would be superfluous to expatiate 
 more at large on the subject of these cottages, the individual 
 groups whereof we therefore proceed at once to describe — 
 
BILLIE MAINS FARM COTTAGES. 
 
 81 
 
 I. BILLIE MAINS FARM COTTAGES. 
 
 (Plates XIX. XX. XXI. and XXII.) 
 
 These cottages are in the parish of Bunkle and shire of Ber- 
 wick ; they are on the farm of Billie Mains, the property of 
 W. F. Home, Esq., and in the occupation of Mr. Thomas Allan, 
 the principal tenant on the Estate of Billie. 
 
 A new dwelling house for the tenant was erected in 1847, 
 and extensive repairs were made on the farm offices. 
 
 The old cottages, occupied by the servants, were mere hovels, 
 the walls being composed of clay and round stones — the roofs of 
 thatch — the floors inside, of a mixture of mud and ashes. We 
 have attempted to represent the appearance of these old cottages, 
 with the pools of stagnant water before the doors ; and to show, 
 on the same sketch, the cottages, which in 1848 came in their 
 place. Plate XIX. 
 
 Whilst the social comforts of all the families, twelve in 
 number, have, as may be we'll supposed, been greatly promoted 
 by the change, we are gratified to be allowed to add, that the 
 increased accommodation has led to laudable efforts on the part 
 of the little community, to afford to their children the blessings 
 of education. Billie Mains is at a considerable distance from any 
 school ; and to remedy this disadvantage, some of the better 
 instructed among the grown up men and women, soon after the 
 new cottages were completed, volunteered to teach a class in the 
 ordinary branches of parochial education, including a Sunday 
 School. One of the garret rooms was cheerfully given up for 
 this purpose ; and a supply of books and stationery has been 
 furnished by the proprietor and by the tenant, with a view to 
 reward and encourage this laudable movement. 
 
 There are twelve cottages at Billie Mains, each cottage hav- 
 ing a garden in front, which is very neatly laid down. 
 
 F 
 
82 
 
 GROUND PLAN AND ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 Iii continuation, it is only necessary to direct attention to the 
 ground plan and other details, and annex the working specifica- 
 tions. 
 
 The four plates (XIX. XX. XXI. and XXII.) in connection 
 with Billie Mains Cottages, amply illustrate their general appear- 
 ance and details of construction. 
 
 On examination of the ground plan (Plate XX.) it will be 
 found that the accommodation afforded is as follows — 
 
 a. Entrance Porch. 
 
 b. Kitchen. 
 
 c. Living Room. 
 
 d. Bed Place with fixed Bed. 
 
 e. Scullery Avith Stair and Back Door. 
 / Milk Place with Shelves. 
 
 g. Coal Out-house to each Cottage. 
 
 h. Privies. 
 a. Ashpits. 
 
 h. Pigsties and Courts. 
 I. Drain Sinks. 
 m. m. Paved Roadways before and behind. 
 
 Shrubbery, enclosed by Rustic Railing and parapet wall. 
 p. Garden Plots. 
 
 The built-in bed c?, being interposed so as to interrupt the 
 opposition of the front and back doors, the current or draught 
 referred to by the Inspectors might be entirely obviated, by a 
 door placed either at e or a. The ground plan (Plate XX.) and 
 south elevation (Plate XXI.) show that the descent from the front 
 plot into the garden is by a few steps, and that therefore the 
 immediate site of the cottage range is eligibly raised. The sec- 
 tions (Plate XXII.) show the details of the cast-iron kitchen 
 grate, with oven at one end and boiler at the other, so highly 
 approved of in the report ; as also the formation of the founda- 
 tions and floors, the area and appearance of the upper chamber 
 and loft, and the style of the eaves, as spouted, and of the chimney 
 stack. The general exterior effect of these cottages, placed in 
 a fertile district, near the village of Auchincraw, is seen in the 
 isometrical elevation (Plate XIX.), as contrasted with the fore- 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — MASON WORK. 
 
 83 
 
 ground of old cottages, demolished in 1848. The windows are 
 ornamented with mullions, the eaves with dentelles, and a corres- 
 ponding moulding runs across the doorway. The cost of each 
 cottage was £160. 
 
 The following are the working specifications applicable — 
 
 Specifications of Works to be Executed in Building and Finishing 
 Twelve Cottages, Piggeries, Privies, Dykes, Drains, and other works 
 set forth in this Specification, and according to the Plans for tin 
 same, at Billic Mains. 
 
 Mason Work. 
 
 The mason will do all the digging and levelling for the cottages, the piggeries 
 the roads, the terraces, and the gardens, according to the plans, sections, and 
 instructions he will receive. The contractor will not be bound to wheel the 
 earth or other materials to a further distance than forty yards. The surface 
 mould will be taken off, and when the levelling is completed, it will be evenly 
 spread over the flower beds and gardens. 
 
 The trenches for the walls to be taken out as shown in the section, and 
 further, if necessary, for a solid foundation for the walls. The ashpits to be 
 sunk 2^ below the finished surface. The quarry for the wall stones will In- 
 pointed out, and the contractor shall work it in a proper manner. All the 
 dressed stones will be from Edington Hill, or Whitsome Newton Quarry. 
 
 The drains to be formed of the largest drain tiles, one being for the bot- 
 tom and another for the top, as shown in the plan, breaking joints, cast-iron 
 stink-trap, and grates i) in diameter, to be fixed over the drains, as shown in 
 the plan, with dished stone basins boxed down to the tiles. The drains in tin; 
 pigsties Avill have 6 grates fixed over them, with stone sockets, &c. 
 
 The drains to have sufficient currents to the outlets as may be thought 
 most eligible, and the tiles well bedded with clay. 
 
 The present cottages and piggeries to be taken down, and used for such 
 purposes as shall be considered proper in the new works. 
 
 The wall of the buildings to be carried up as set forth in the drawings, 
 for one-half of the works. 
 
 Four inches below the floor line, there shall be a stratum of Roman cement 
 | thick, spread throughout the whole of the walls and partitions. The cold 
 air drains to be formed of 3 pipes, and each to havo a cast-iron valvular 
 grating, 6 in diameter, fixed into the front wall of the cottages, to open and 
 
84 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS — MASON WORK. 
 
 shut at pleasure. The walls of the cottages to be built of random coursed 
 ruble. 
 
 The walls to be beam-filled, close up to the roof, and the whole work to 
 be well worked, and bedded with the best lime mortar, well prepared with sharp 
 sand. The contractor to bring forward the lime by rail to Reston Station. 
 
 The whole of the work to be properly pointed, both outside and inside. 
 All corners, soles, lintels, rybats, jambs, ridge-stones, skews, corbels, shades, 
 labels, copes, and chimney tops, to be clean worked, having tooled 3 margins, 
 and pick dabbed tails for doors and windows ; the ingoings to be all tooled, 
 the chimney tops to be finished as shown in the plans, and the skews to over- 
 lap the slates. 
 
 The pigsties to have scappled scontions and copes, the back wall of the 
 privies to be arched below the seats, and the ashpits to be built all round with 
 lime mortar. 
 
 The roofs of the piggeries to be covered with the best Caithness pavement. 
 The privies to have ventilators as shown in the plan. 
 
 The whole of the cottages to have droved and jointed hearths, and inner 
 hearth, as shown in the plan, of Arbroath pavement, 'i\ thick, properly bedded, 
 including the garrets. The floors of all the apartments to be prepared for 
 asphalte, having a layer of stones, broken as road metal, 9 deep, and blinded 
 on the top with gravel, to within 2 of the floor line. The jambs of the 
 rooms and garrets to be rubbed smooth — there will be only one fire-place in 
 each garret. 
 
 The whole of the ground floor partitions to be formed of bricks of the 
 best quality, set on edge, having stone footings, with a stratum of Roman 
 cement, as before described, for the walls. 
 
 The chimney copes to be cramped together with lead. 
 
 The room fire-places to have each a sham cast-iron stove grate, of the 
 full size of the places, built up with fire bricks. 
 
 All the garret fire-places will be finished in the same manner with cast- 
 iron grates. The kitchens shall have each a malleable iron crane and swing, 
 with all the requisite crooks and racks, the crane to be fixed at top and bottom 
 by iron eyes, batted into the jambs. 
 
 Four pierced stone basins to be set at the front of the cottages for the 
 wall pipes, and a 6 brick tile drain, with bottom, to be formed along the front 
 of the cottages to carry off the rain water. 
 
 The walls of the terraces to be neatly built and drawn in, and finished on 
 the top with a turf cope. The steps leading into the garden to be dressed and 
 in one piece. 
 
 The dykes all round the gardens to be of good ruble building, 4 high, with 
 a 9 cope above that height, properly founded ; and the foundations to be laid 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — CARPENTER WORK. 
 
 85 
 
 22 broad, and at the surface to be set off 18 broad, and finished at the top 
 15 thick. 
 
 The whole of the roads and paths at the front and back of the cottages 
 as well as the pigsties, to be neatly causewayed, with river water stones, set in 
 sand, and to have proper channels from each water pipe, leading into the main 
 drain. The privies to have Caithness pavement floors, bedded in sand, and also 
 Caithness flags, 2 broad, fixed along the whole length of the seats, at an angle 
 of 60°, into the ashpit. 
 
 The contractor to find all materials. 
 
 Carpenter Work. 
 
 All the voids to have safe lintels 3| thick, of such breadth as the walls require, 
 and to be 2 longer than the openings ; wall plates for the joists to be 6^ x i^. 
 Joists to be 8 x 2\ and 18 apart, and of such length as shown in the section. 
 Each cottage to have two framed principals as shown in section, and to be 4h 
 by 3^ at top, and <j x 3£ at bottom ; the brackets to be of oak, \i\ thick, bolted 
 to the collar and principals, with £ best iron screw bolts ; the collars to be 
 6^ X king posts to be 8 x 3 ; purlines 4*£ x 4J, in long lengths, and keyed at 
 the joinings ; poll plates to be 5 x 2 J ; ridges to bo 6 x i£ ; small rafters to be 
 4 x 2%, set at such a distance apart, as shown in the drawings ; the whole 
 of the principals to be neatly dressed, and the angles taken off ; the purlines 
 will also be dressed ; the whole of the roofs to be covered with jj deal sarking, 
 and to have feather-edged eaves-boards i thick and !) broad. 
 
 The skylight and stair to be properly trimmed and finished with ij beaded 
 plates, of sufficient breadth, and the whole of the roof timbers that project 
 over tho walls to be neatly dressed. The garret flooring to be i' deal, dressed, 
 grooved, and tongued, and not to exceed 8 in breadth. Tho outside doors to 
 be framed in halves of i£ deal ; the stiles to be 4 J broad, and the three rail, 
 to be 8 each, and to be covered on the face with i deal not more than (j broad, 
 dressed, grooved, and tongued, and with tho framing to be neatly finished and 
 beaded on both sides ; these doors to hang to door frames 4 x i>i, well fixed 
 to the stone work, and to have strong is T hinges, screwed on ; and to have 
 strong thumb latches, and fivo shilling wood stock locks, with two 8 rod bolts 
 to each door. 
 
 There will be twenty-four bound and moulded i£ four panelled doors for 
 the rooms and kitchen entrances, to bo hung to standards, 4^ x 2^, with 5 butts. 
 All the other doors to be made of -j deal, not more than 8 broad, with three 
 cross bars £ thick, all to be made in the usual manner, and hung to door 
 standards, 4^ x 2J, with i'5 T hinges, screwed on. The panel doors to have 6 
 
86 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS CARPENTER WORK. 
 
 spring latches, and brass knobs ; all the other doors to have good Norfolk 
 latches. The dairy doors to have each a 2s. lock. Each garret will require 
 one door and a partition, formed with standards 'i\ x 2§-, 16 apart from centres, 
 and to have a strutting, 2| x 2 J, at the height of the lintel. 
 
 The ground floor partition standards to be 24 apart, and to be 3x2^; 
 the sills to be 3X2^; and the warpings to be i x 3, and 24 apart. 
 
 The fronts of the beds in the rooms to have frames 4 x and with all 
 the doors and windows to be finished with neat moulded d facings, 5 broad. 
 The beds to be lined all round, with J deal, 18 deep, and a stock rail 9 deep, 
 and i'^ thick, the bottoms to be sparred, the spars to be i x 4 and 2 apart, well 
 supported. The windows to be all framed of 2l wood, to have solid cases 4x3 
 double checked, and each casement to have three brass hinges, 3^ long, and lj 
 broad, and to fasten with improved latches. The casements to be glazed with 
 good crown glass, and to be well primed before being glazed ; the whole of the 
 windows to have wooden soles, of i' deal, nailed to two cross bars. 
 
 The kitchens and rooms to have bound aud moulded shutters, of i£ deal, 
 with I clamped backfolds, to have inch and quarter brass knobs, and sufficient 
 hinges. These windows will also have plane deal soffits, and with the soles 
 to be tongued into the cases. The slits in the gables to have each a glazed 
 casement to open. 
 
 The dairy windows to have zinc fly wire nailed on the outside of the cases. 
 
 The stairs to have i'J strings, treads, and i risers, with a deal hand 
 rail, and ballusters of sufficient strength all round. Each dairy to have 3 tiers, 
 of i deal shelving, of the breadth shown in the plan well fixed up. 
 
 All the fire places to have jamb mouldings and inch deal shelves. 
 
 Angle heads to be put up where necessary, the whole apartments, including 
 the garrets, to have % skirtings, 5^ deep. The doors to have stops of | deal. 
 
 The privies to have rafters, plates, and sarking, as described for the 
 cottages (but no principals) ; the doors to be of i' deal, with frame and hinges, 
 as specified for the cottages, and good thumb latches, and one 6 rod bolt for 
 each door ; the seats to be formed of if deal, and to have clamped covers, hinged 
 with 3 butts ; the covers to be i thick. 
 
 The rustic railing to be properly put up of larch, from plantations on the 
 estate ; and the railing round the bleaching greens, to be also of larch, from the 
 estate plantations. There will be 450 lineal feet of the above railing required 
 for the bleaching greens, which must be all properly dressed and framed ; the 
 posts to be sunk 3 into the ground, and to be 6 diameter ; the rails 4x2, with 
 the angles taken off; the whole of this railing to be twice painted with oil 
 and white lead. The outside doors and windows, to be twice painted with the 
 best oil paint. 
 
 The timber to be well seasoned before being used, and to be of the best 
 
SPECIFICATIONS — SLATER, PLASTER, AND PLUMBER WORK. 87 
 
 red pine or Baltic fir, except the inside doors and finishings, which will be of 
 American yellow pine, free from shakes, sapwood, large or loose knots, and 
 every other defect. 
 
 The contractor to find all materials. 
 
 Slater Work. 
 
 The whole of the cottage and privy roofs to be covered with lady slates, 
 and to have 2\ of cover and good bond. 
 
 All the slates to be double nailed, with prepared nails of sufficient 
 strength. The slater to set on the ridge stones, which must be properly 
 bedded, and with the skews, to be neatly pointed up with mastic. The slater 
 to provide all materials, and provide 24 cast-iron sky lights, to open witli 
 quadrant racks, and glazed. The skylights to be 24 x is. 
 
 Plaster Work. 
 
 The whole of the ceilings, the soffits of doors and windows, and all the 
 rafters of the roof, up to the ridges, to be covered with the best split lath, and 
 nailed with stout cast-iron nails. 
 
 The walls, partitions, and lath work, to be finished with three-coat plaster. 
 
 The privies and sculleries may be finished with two-coat plaster. 
 
 The plasterer to point up all the door and window cases with mastic ; he 
 will also bring forward the lime to Reston Station, and provide all materials. 
 
 Plumber Work. 
 
 The whole of the cottages to have 4 zinc roans along the fronts and 
 backs, supported by malleable iron holdfasts, at the distance of 28 apart, well 
 japanned, and to have a Mooden lath \\ square, along the bottom of the roans ; 
 the edges of the roans to be turned round a \ iron rod. The fronts of the 
 cottages will require four wall pipes, and their backs twelve, 9 long ; all of 
 them to be ii in diameter, with proper heads and shoes, well fixed to the wall. 
 
 The whole of the zinc to weigh 20 ounces to the square foot. 
 
 The plumber must also state at what price he will lay down and com- 
 pletely finish lead pipe, from i to f per cwt., including all materials and 
 workmanship of every description — observing that the pipes are to be brought 
 into the cottages from the mill lead. 
 
 The contractor to find all materials. 
 
88 
 
 B1LLIE MAINS STEWARD'S COTTAGE. 
 
 II. BILLIE MAINS STEWARD'S COTTAGE. 
 
 (Plate XXIII.) 
 
 This single cottage, erected in 1848 for Mr. Home, in connection 
 with the foregoing cottages, provides a larger amount of accom- 
 modation at less expense. The general appearance is however less 
 ornate, although from the occupation of an independent site, with 
 a bank of flowers and shrubs, ascending by steps in front, and 
 a paved roadway, entered by a back gate, running round three 
 sides, and separating it from a garden, the general effect becomes 
 sufficiently pleasing ; and the cottage was accordingly one of 
 the first selected by the Inspectors of the Highland Society for 
 especial commendation. 
 
 The ground plan exhibits the following accommodation — 
 
 Porch. 
 
 Kitchen with Two Bed Places. 
 
 Room with Bed and Stair to Loft. 
 
 Back Passage. 
 
 Pantry or Milk Place. 
 
 Scullery or Cellar. 
 
 Coals. 
 
 Privy. 
 
 Ashes. 
 
 The cost of this building was £132 ; and the specifications given 
 for the principal Farm Cottages of Billie Mains are easily appli- 
 cable to its construction. 
 
HUXTON COTTAGE ITS ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 89 
 
 III. HUXTON COTTAGE. 
 (Plates XXIV. and XXV.) 
 
 This light and elegant single cottage was the first singled out for 
 approbation amongst those erected for Mr. Home. It is situated 
 in the parish of Coldingham, and was built in 1846. The open 
 porch in front, advancing from the front door, and supported upon 
 pillars, possesses, as will be seen by the elevation (Plate XXIV.) 
 and sections (Plate XXV.), a light and graceful appearance, and 
 permits, moreover, a portion of the inner porch or lobby to be 
 walled off for a closet. The kitchen beds are thrown further off 
 the line of the draught than in the preceding plan ; and a closet is 
 afforded in addition to the bed in the front room. The dairy and 
 scullery, on either hand of the back door passage, are the features 
 so highly praised in the reports — the latter being provided with 
 a capacious sink, in addition to the boiler and furnace mentioned 
 by the reporters. The accommodation afforded, requires no other 
 enumeration. The timbering of the porch, and dcntelles under the 
 projecting eaves, relieve the front from all insipidity, as may be 
 noticed in Plate XXIV ; although the general effect is best seen 
 in the east elevation (Plate XXV.), where the roof of the porch, 
 projecting in front, balances that of the too-fall behind. The 
 section on the line A B, shows the stair to the loft, the tie of 
 the roofs, over the house porch and rear, respectively, and the 
 position of the drainage sink behind. 
 
 The cost of this cottage was £162. We annex the — 
 
90 
 
 HUXTON COTTAGE — 
 
 ITS SPECIFOATIONS. 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 Mason Work. 
 
 The mason to level the site for the building, and to take out the trenches 
 until a proper substance is come at to found upon, and the walls to be carried 
 up as shown in the plan. The walls to be of good ruble masonry. The mortar 
 to be well prepared, with a due proportion of sharp sand. All corners, soles, 
 lintels, rybats, jambs, base, chimney tops, hearths, flags for the kitchen, 
 pantries, and lobbies, to be clean worked ; the flues to be plastered and pro- 
 perly built of a sufficient size ; the partitions to be brought up from the subsoil, 
 with brick on bed. The earth to be taken out 9 below the level of the floors, 
 and to be filled up with small stones, 6 deep, for the pavement, which will be 
 bedded with lime mortar. All the fireplaces to have cast-iron grates ; the 
 kitchen ones to be 20 wide, and the room ones to be 12, with all necessary 
 coveings and backings ; and the kitchen to have a strong crane or swey, with 
 crooks and racks. 
 
 The mason to provide all materials. 
 
 Carpenter and Joiner Work. 
 
 All the safe lintels to be of ii x 3 red plank, and to have 9 wall-hold at 
 each end ; wall plates for the joists to be 6| x i£ ; joists to be of 7 x 2\ red Dram 
 battens, and 24 betwixt centres, dressed and champfered. The cupple sills 
 or rafters to be of Memel, 6 and 5 x 2^, and notched into the joists. The 
 baulks to be 'i\ x 2 ( ; the sarking to be § deal, close jointed, and to have \\ 
 splayed eaves-boards, 9 broad ; the linings for the projecting part to be of £ 
 deal, dressed, ploughed, and beaded. The garret floorings to be of | deal, 
 dressed, ploughed, and leaded on the under side. The outer doors to be of 
 i| battens, and hinged with 24 T hinges, to 'i\ x 2\ frames. The locks to be 
 wood stock, 4s. value, and a good thumb latch to each. 
 
 The windows to be made of 2 wood, to be glazed with third crown glass, 
 and to be hung with 3 edge hinges, to frame 'i\ x 2^ ; each sash to have two 4 
 brass rod bolts. 
 
 The inside doors to be of £ deal, with i\ x 2\ frames, hung with 14 T 
 hinges, and to have Norfolk latches, and with the windows to have 4-|- x '» 
 
SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 91 
 
 beaded facings and stops. The partition standards to be 2i apart, and to be 
 3 x 2\ ; the warpings to be i£ x 3, and 24 apart. All the apartments have 
 beaded skirtings, £&x|. The room beds to be fitted up with deal, stiles 
 and rails, and lined all round is high, with A deal, the bottoms and bearers 
 to be of sufficient strength. All the windows to have i deal inside soles, and 
 the pantry to have three shelves, 18 broad, i thick. The stair to be formed 
 with \\ deal, with deal hand rail and ballusters. 
 
 The fireplaces to have a shelf fixed above each lintel. Angle beads to be 
 fixed up where necessary. 
 
 The porch to be erected according to the detailed drawings ; all the tim- 
 bers to be worked and stop champfered, and with all the doors and windows 
 to be three times painted. 
 
 The contractor to provide all materials, and the whole of the timber to 
 be of the best Baltic fir, free from every defect. 
 
 Slater, Plaster, and Plumber Work. 
 
 The roof to be covered with medium lady slates, double nailed, and to 
 have 2% of cover ; the nails to be properly prepared. 
 
 The lead for the ridges to be 14 broad, and to weigh 5 tt>. to the 
 superficial foot. 
 
 The whole of the walls and partitions to be finished with two-coat plaster, 
 and the door and window heads to be lathed and plastered. 
 
92 
 
 NORTH FALA— KNOWE FARM COTTAGE. 
 
 IV. NORTH FALA-KNOWE FAEM COTTAGE. 
 (Plate XXVI.) 
 
 This single cottage, on the edge of Coldingham Moor, erected 
 for Mr. Home in 1846, shows a rustic style of porch, and an ex- 
 tending annexation of back premises. 
 
 The front elevation looks southwards. The outer porch 
 is trellised. The eaves, windows, and chimneys, resemble those 
 in the last example. 
 
 The interior accommodation comprises — 
 
 Lobby. 
 
 Kitchen with Bed and Pantry. 
 Room with Closet and Bed. 
 Back Passage. 
 Cellar. 
 
 Stair with Loft ahove. 
 Dairy opposite Back Door. 
 Large Scullery with Boiler, 
 And without, Dust Hole and Privy. 
 
 This building cost £144. 
 
EYEMOUTH MILL COTTAGES. 
 
 93 
 
 V. EYEMOUTH MILL COTTAGES. 
 (Plates XXVII. and XXVIII.) 
 
 In a fine sheltered situation at Eyemouth Mill, these simple 
 and substantial cottages were erected, also for Mr. Home, in 
 1849. The disposition of the ground, causeways, and offices, 
 relatively to these cottages, resembles that exhibited upon the 
 ground plan of those of Billie Mains. Thus, a causewayed foot- 
 path passes immediately in front, betwixt the cottages and the 
 bank of shrubs, ascended by side steps, and enclosed betwixt a 
 rustic paling and terrace wall. On reference to the ground plan, 
 (Plate XXVIII.) it will be seen that the water casks with which 
 the several cottages are provided, have been placed near the drain 
 sunk in the rear causeway, which again intervenes betwixt the 
 dwellings and the detached offices. The arrangement of the beds 
 is also an improvement upon that followed at Billie Mains ; and 
 in the scullery, room has been found for the furnace boiler, by 
 accommodating the pantry or milk place where the second 
 bed is placed at Billie Mains. 
 
 Thus the accommodations consist of — 
 
 Entrance Porch. 
 
 Kitchen with Two Beds, apart. 
 
 Room with Bed, Press, &c. 
 
 Scullery with Furnace Boiler. 
 
 Pantry. 
 
 And without — 
 
 Water Butt. 
 
 Cellar. 
 
 Privy 1 
 
 > to two. 
 AsuriT J 
 
 Pigsty. 
 
 The cost of each cottage was, in this instance, only about £120. 
 
94 
 
 EYEMOUTH MILL COTTAGES SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS 
 
 to Plans for Building Four Cottages and Offices at Eyemouth Mill. 
 
 Mason Work. 
 
 The mason to level the whole site for the cottages, and dig out the foundation 
 to the depth of 18 below the floor line, and more if necessary. 
 
 The whole area within the walls to be excavated to the depth of 12 below 
 the floor, and filled up with small stones or shivers, 8 deep. 
 
 The walls to be carried up of the form and dimensions shown by the plans, 
 and the front to be of the best clean ruble building. 
 
 All the walls to be beam filled and neatly pointed up. The whole of the 
 freestone dressings shall be neatly chiselled and full sized ; the partitions shall be 
 of brick, laid flat, and with the whole of the other walls, shall have a stratum of 
 the best Roman cement, i thick, laid throughout their whole extent, 6 below the 
 floor line. 
 
 The fire places to have rubbed jambs and lintels; the ridge shall be of 
 chiselled freestone, in long lengths, and all the skews shall overlap the slates. 
 The chimney stalks shall be channelled for the slates. 
 
 The kitchens shall have droved Arbroath hearths 4.6x2.6. The rooms 
 to have rubbed hearths 3.9x2.2. All of them to have back hearths to fill 
 whole space. 
 
 The steps of all the doors to be of droved Arbroath pavement, rounded on 
 the front edge. 
 
 The thin walls, dividing the cottages, shall be of io brick work on the 
 ground floor, and of 5 brick work on the garret floor. 
 
 The boilers shall be built up with bricks, having a sufficient quantity of fire 
 bricks. 
 
 The panel in the front wall shall be neatly lettered and moulded. 
 
 The offices shall be built of the form shown in the plan. The pigsties to 
 be roofed with Caithness pavement and causewayed, having proper channels 
 leading into the ashpits. The tliin wall at the privies shall be of bricks, laid 
 flat, and rough cast. 
 
 The space along the front of the cottages shall be neatly causewayed 9 broad, 
 with a drain formed with 5 drain pipes; and there shall be two pierced stone 
 basins over it, with two 9 air-traps. There shall also be two drains from the 
 
SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 95 
 
 wall pipes, leading into the main drain, which shall he formed as before de- 
 scribed. 
 
 There shall be a drain along the back of the cottages, leading down to the 
 field below the public road, which shall be formed as specified for the other 
 drain; and there shall be four jj air-traps, with stone basins, built over this 
 drain. 
 
 The mortar shall be of the best description ; and the contractor shall bring 
 forward the lime to the Burnmouth Station, or to the harbour at Eyemouth. He 
 must also screen the sand and quarry all the stones where pointed out. He 
 shall also furnisb the whole of the materials for the proper finishing of the 
 work. 
 
 The contractor shall also provide a malleable iron crane or swey, with 
 racks and crooks, for each kitchen, and a sham stone grate for each room. 
 He shall also provide four boilers, each to contain twelve gallons. The kitchen 
 ranges will be furnished by the employer, and the mason shall build them in 
 with all necessary bricks and fire bricks for the same. 
 
 Joiner Work. 
 
 All the safe lintels to be ii x 3 red plank, and to have 10 wall-hold at each 
 end. Wall plates for the joists to be '6k x Joists to bo 7 x 2.V, and to pro- 
 ject 12 over the walls, to be set at the distance shown in the elevation, and 
 dressed where they project, The rafters to be 6 and 5, and ]>h thick. Baulks 
 to be 4-£ x 2 double railed. Barking to be jf thick. Eaves-boards to be i£ x 9 
 feather edged; the linings for the projecting part of the roof to be | thick, and 
 dressed, grooved, tongued, and beaded. 
 
 The lofting to be jj thick, and not more than 9 broad, grooved and tongued, 
 and dressed on the upper side. 
 
 All the outside doors to be framed of 2 stuff, and lined on the face with jf 
 deal, grooved and tongued; to be hung to standards 4£ x 2\, with is T hinges 
 screwed on; the locks to be stock ones, of the value of 4s., and all of them to 
 have thumb latches. 
 
 The windows to be framed of 2 wood, glazed with good crown glass, and to 
 be double hung in the usual manner; to have turn-round fasteners, and the cases 
 to be all of J wood. 
 
 The fanlights to be of 2 wood and glazed; the windows and fanlights to be 
 properly primed with oil and white lead. The whole of the inside doors to be 
 framed of 1$ deal, and to be hung with 4 edge hinges, to standards :>h x All 
 these doors to have 6 spring latches. The pantry doors to be framed of i£ deal, 
 and to have two Is. locks. 
 
9G 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 The room and kitchen windows to have i'£ framed shutters, hung hy 3 edge 
 hinges, and to have i£ hrass knobs, and hasps and eyes ; the back folds to be of 
 | clamped deal, hung with 2 back fold hinges. The soffits of doors and win- 
 dows to be of I' deal. 
 
 The standards for the beds, to be 5 x 2\, and the room beds to be lined 
 all round with \ deal, 18 deep, the fronts to have a stock rail, io x i^, the 
 bottoms to be sparred, the spars to be 3 x 1|, and 2 apart, supported by bearers 
 SJ x g|. 
 
 All the apartments to have facings and skirtings 4 x g\ All angles to have 
 I stuff beads. 
 
 The windows to have inside soles, of i deal, laid upon cross bars. The 
 pantries to have each three tier of i shelving of the breadth shown in the 
 plan. 
 
 The coal bins to have a front of \\ deal, 33 high, to slide out and in at 
 pleasure. 
 
 The garrets to have hatches 4x3, hinged with is T hinges, and a back 
 sneck, these hatches to be of f deal, with two bars 2 x i. 
 
 The step ladders to be 20 wide, the sides to be of i \ x 6 deal ; the steps to 
 be 8 apart, and of \\ deal checked into the sides. 
 
 The whole of the fireplaces shall have jamb mouldings, and i shelves, 6 
 broad. 
 
 The pantry windows to be covered on the outside with fine perforated zinc, 
 and these windows may be hinged with 3 butt hinges. 
 
 The privies shall have rafters 5 x 2^, nailed to 6 x \\ plates, at 21 from 
 centres, and to be covered with | sarking. The doors to be of l deal, and hung 
 with 16 T hinges, to 5X2 standards, to have thumb latches, and 6 rod bolts on 
 the inside. 
 
 The seats to be of \ deal, and to have hinged flaps, clamped on the 
 
 ends. 
 
 There shall be two rows of rustic railing along the whole length of the 
 cottages, and returned at the ends (the proprietor will provide the trees.) 
 
 The whole of the timber shall be of the best Baltic fir, except the inside 
 finishing, which shall be of the best American yellow pine. The tenant will 
 provide all carriages. 
 
 The front doors shall be painted and grained oak, and varnished. All the 
 other outside wood work, shall be three times painted, of such a colour as may 
 be chosen. 
 
 The mason to have the use of the roof timbers for scaffolding. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 97 
 
 Slater Work. 
 
 The whole of the cottage and privy roofs shall be slated with lady slates, 
 L6 x 8, and double nailed, with prepared nails of sufficient strengtb. The slates 
 to have 2 of cover and good bond, the skews to be all pointed up with mastic, 
 and the ridge to be properly bedded and pointed up when finished. All the 
 window cases to be pointed with mastic. 
 
 There shall be four lead skylights of the size shown, and glazed with six- 
 teen ounce glass ; the lead to be five pound ; the flushings to be 5 broad ; tlie 
 bars to be of copper, and the whole of them to open with japanned rack. 
 
 The slater to provide all materials. 
 
 Plaster Work. 
 
 The whole of the ceilings and cupples to be lathed with the best split lath. 
 
 The kitchens, lobbies, and rooms, to be finished with three coat plaster ; all 
 the other apartments, including the garrets, shall be finished with two-coat 
 plaster. 
 
 All the plaster to be left whole at the completion of the works, and to 
 stand free from every defect. 
 
 The contractor to provide all materials, and forward the lime, as before 
 specified, for the other departments. 
 
 Q 
 
98 
 
 CAIRNHILL COTTAGES. 
 
 VI. CAIRNHILL COTTAGES. 
 (Plate XXIX.) 
 
 Cairnhill Cottages were erected for Mr. Home in 1849. They, 
 too, occupy a fine sheltered site. The mullioned moulding, den- 
 tition, and central gablet, with tablet stone, impart a fine moder- 
 nized effect to the frontage. The entrance porch is elongated 
 into a passage, leading to the room and kitchen on either hand, 
 and creating spaces for beds. The kitchen beds are situated as 
 in the last example ; and instead of a second one at the back 
 wall, a pantry is formed, and coals are accommodated, leaving 
 the scullery of fully the same improved amplitude. 
 
 The ground plan accommodations, therefore, comprise — 
 
 Extended Entrance Porch. 
 
 Kitchen with two Bed Places and Pantry. 
 
 Room with Bed Place. 
 
 Scullery with Coal Place and Back Door. 
 
 The cost of erection was £132 each. 
 
M I LLD0WN COTTAGES. 
 
 99 
 
 VII. MILLDOWN COTTAGES. 
 (Plate XXX.) 
 
 Upon this plate will be found, veiy graphically combined with 
 the details drawn to scale of these favourite cottages, probably 
 the most highly commended of all in the Inspectors' Report, a 
 pictorial representation of the mode in which the peculiarities of 
 the site have been dealt with, in fixing their position on the 
 ground, and contriving the modes of access. They consist of 
 a pair of cottages erected for Mr. Home at Milldown, in the 
 parish of Coldingham, in 1850. The water-butts are accom- 
 modated at one end, and the out offices, well screened by a 
 front wall and door, at the other. The front bank of trees and 
 shrubs is ascended by steps and pathway at one end, and by 
 a pathway cut through the terrace wall and bank, and termi- 
 nating in steps on the other. The pathway, railed off in front 
 of the cottages, is causewayed and drained. 
 
 The following are the accommodations — 
 Porch. 
 
 Kitchen, 13x13, with Bed, G.lixi. 
 Room, i'o x 8, with Bed, 6.2x4.2. 
 Pantry, 4.9 x 4. 
 Scullery, 9x6.9. 
 
 Separate Pigsties, Privies, Coal Places, and joint Dust- 
 holes, properly drained, arc attached on the east, as already 
 described. 
 
 Tn the scullery, there is a furnace boiler and step ladder to 
 the loft. 
 
100 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS 
 
 Applicable to Plans for Two Cottages with their Offices. 
 Mason Work. 
 
 The mason to excavate the whole of the site for the buildings, as shown 
 in the plans ; and the levels and slopes to be done as set forth in the several 
 drawings. 
 
 The trees and the thorn hedge or fence to be kept entire, and should any 
 damage be done to them, the contractor shall be held responsible for the 
 same. 
 
 The trenches for the walls to be taken out, to the depth of 12 below the 
 levelled surface, and more if necessary. 
 
 The Avhole of the earth that may accumulate from the levelling, slopes, 
 &c, must be wheeled down to the garden ground, across the road, and levelled 
 as the inspector may direct. 
 
 The whole of the drains to be properly formed and currented, as shown 
 in the plan, and none of the pipes to be less than 12 below the finished sur- 
 face. 
 
 The drains to be formed with 6 socket pipes, jointed with Roman cement, 
 and carefully bedded. The traps (five in number) to be 9 ones, of the best 
 pattern, set into 20 x 20 stone basons. 
 
 The dust hole to be sunk 2 deep below the court, and with the court, 
 pigsties, coal houses, passage, and footpath, to be neatly causewayed with 
 water stones, set in sand, and to have sufficient channels to carry off the 
 surface water. 
 
 The breadth of the causewaying, along the footpath, is marked in the 
 ground plan. 
 
 The whole of the walls to be of the best masonry, neatly drawn in. 
 
 The fronts and ends of the buildings to be finished with blue whinstone ; 
 all the other walls may be built from the quarry adjoining the mill. 
 
 The steps, copes, rybats, soles, lintels, corners, jambs, and chimney stalks, 
 to be of the best liver rock, from Edington Mill Quarry, and chiselled as in 
 similar works. 
 
 The hearths will be of Arbroath droved pavement, the jambs and lintels 
 to be rubbed. The flues to be properly plastered with haired lime mortar. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 101 
 
 The partitions to be of bricks on edge, with stone footings, and with the 
 whole of the cottage walls, to have a stratum or bed of Roman cement, J thick, 
 laid throughout their whole length and breadth. 
 
 The whole of the floors of the cottages will be formed with well burned 
 12 hexagonal paving tiles, set with lime mortar, upon a bed of stone shivers, 6 
 deep. 
 
 The contractor to build in the boilers and grates, which the employer will 
 furnish, and the contractor will also provide two strong malleable iron sweys or 
 cranes, for the kitchen fire places, having all necessary racks and crooks. 
 
 The privies to have Caithness pavement floors, set in sand, and they will 
 also have pavement, set at an angle of 60° over the dust hole. The face of the 
 platform to be neatly built up from the road to the root of the hedge, with stones 
 set in lime mortar. 
 
 The road in front of the cottages to be lowered 18, for the distance of 
 30 yards, to the line shown in the elevation ; the metal to be taken up for 
 the distance of 60 yards ; and when the earth work is completed, the metal 
 will be broken small and laid on 6 deep, the breadth of the road, and to 
 the distance of 60 yards in length ; the metal required to complete the road 
 will be got from the beach, which the contractor must fill into the tenants' 
 carts. 
 
 The tablet in front of the offices to be rubbed and lettered ; and the steps 
 leading up to the platform must be in one length. 
 
 The mason to cut all the holes, channels, or raglets, required for the 
 other tradesmen, and ho will also run in the crooks and furnish the kail 
 
 The partition and back walls of the privies will be of bricks, laid flat, with 
 an arch over each opening, and both of them will bo finished with onc-coat 
 of plaster. The contractor to provide the whole of the materials, and bring 
 forward the lime to the Reston Station, he will also execute the whole of the 
 works, to the entire satisfaction of the employer and his inspector, and furnish 
 his own scaffolding, and also two strong iron scrapers for the doors. 
 
 Joiner Work. 
 
 All the safe lintels to be ii x 3 red plank, and to have 12 wall hold at each 
 
 end. 
 
 Wall plates for the joists to be (jj x i'J. Joists to be 7 x 'i\ Dram battens, 
 and set as shown by the elevation, to be dressed and champfered. The cupples 
 to be 6 and 5 x notched into each joist ; baulks to be 4^ x 2 ; Barking to 
 be J red plank. 
 
102 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 Splayed eaves boards to be 9 x i^, rounded on tbe edge. 
 
 The linings for the projecting part of the roof to be of f dressed boarding ; 
 the cantilivers on the gables to be framed to the rafters, and dressed to the 
 slope of the roof, to be 6^ x 2\. 
 
 The lofting to be | deal, tongued, grooved, and dressed on the face, and 
 not more than 9 broad. 
 
 The two outside doors to be framed in two halves, of \\ deal, and covered 
 on the face with \ boards, grooved, tongued, and beaded ; to be hung with 18 T 
 hinges screwed on to standards 'i\ x i\ ; each door to have a 3s. lock, thumb 
 latch, and two 8 rod bolts. 
 
 The windows to be made of 2 wood, and glazed with crown glass, being 
 well primed before being glazed. The whole of the windows to be single hung, 
 and to have proper fasteners, pullies, cords and weights. The pantry windows 
 to have perforated zinc nailed on the outside of upper half, with copper nails ; 
 the upper half to be hinged, and the lower nailed fast. These windows, as 
 also the scullery ones, will be 4 \ high, and with all the other windows, will 
 have inside soles of i deal, including the gable windows, which will be hinged 
 to 3 \ x 2 J frames. 
 
 The whole of the inside doors to be made of £ deal, not more than 8 broad, 
 dressed, tongued, grooved and beaded, and hung with \5 T hinges screwed 
 on to frames 4g x 2\ ; each door to have a Norfolk latch ; the pantry door to 
 have a 2s. lock ; the whole of the doors and windows to have x \ beaded 
 facings, and the doors to have g stops. All the apartments to have 'i\ x \ 
 skirtings. 
 
 The partition standards to be 3 x 2j and 24 apart ; warpings to be 2j x i 
 and 24 apart. 
 
 The wall press frames to be 3| x \\, and each press to have four shelves 
 of | deal. 
 
 The pantries to have three tier of i shelving, 16 broad. 
 
 The ends of the partitions betwixt the beds to have f beaded facings. 
 
 The fanlights to be glazed, and the garrets to have hatchways, properly 
 trimmed ; the hatches to be hinged with 18 T hinges. The two step ladders to 
 be made of deal ; the sides to be 5 and the steps to be 6-J broad, and checked 
 into the sides at %\ apart. The fireplaces to have jamb mouldings, and 6 x \\ 
 • shelves. 
 
 Angle beads to be put up where necessary ; the ridge poles to be 2 
 diameter, fixed with spikes to the rafters. 
 
 The office doors and boles to be all made of i| red battens, with three 
 cross bars for the doors, and two for the boles ; and all of them to have strong 
 crooks and eyes, the eyes to be bolted to the Avood work, and the crooks batted 
 into the stone work. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 103 
 
 The two privies will have frames 6^ x 2\, and 18 T hinges, thumb latches, 
 and 4 tower holts on the inside. The boles to have ib rod bolts, and the doors 
 to have 3s. locks. 
 
 The divisions in the coal houses to be of deal, 3 high, with three cross 
 bars ; the upper board to be hinged to fold down with strong hinges. 
 
 The roof of the pigsties, coal houses, and privies, to have rafters or cupples, 
 baulks and sarking, of the same dimensions and quality as specified for the 
 cottages. The seats of the privies to be made of \\ deal, and to have a hinged 
 and clamped flap of i deal ; the lintel for the brick work to be i\ x 8, with 
 sufficient wall hold at each end. 
 
 The whole of the outside doors and windows, and the whole of the project- 
 ing timbers of the roof, to be three times painted, of a colour to be chosen. 
 
 The inside doors and finishings to be of the best American yellow pine, 
 the remainder to be of the best Baltic red fir, well seasoned. 
 
 The rustic railing along the front, to be neatly put up ; the larch for it 
 will be cut from the plantations on the estate. 
 
 The contractor to furnish the whole of the materials. The tenant will 
 find the carriages for the whole of the works. 
 
 Slater and Plaster Work. 
 
 The roofs of the cottages and their offices will be covered with medium 
 lady slates, double nailed with prepared nails, and to have i\ of cover, good 
 bond, and well shouldered with plaster lime mortar. 
 
 The slates to be closely laid and pointed up with mastic and oil, where 
 they come in contact with the stone work. 
 
 The whole of the ceilings, and sollets of doors and windows, to be lathed, 
 and with the. walls and partitions, to be finished with two coats of plaster. 
 The garrets and privies to be finished with one-coat plaster. 
 
 The windows to be properly bedded in with plaster lime, and afterwards 
 pointed up with mastic. 
 
 The contractor to furnish all the materials, and to bring the lime forward 
 to the Reston Station. The tenant will furnish the carriages with the above 
 named exception. 
 
104 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 Plumber Work. 
 
 The ridges to be covered with 20 oz. zinc, 14 broad, fixed down with gal- 
 vanized iron straps every 24. 
 
 Each cottage to have one rough plate glass skylight, 2b x 12, i thick, with 
 zinc flashings, 6 broad. 
 
 The front and back of the cottages to have zinc spouts, 20 oz. to the 
 square foot, supported by japanned malleable iron wall hooks, nailed to the 
 joists, at the distance shown in the elevation. These spouts to be carried round 
 the east gable, to a 3^ wall pipe, which will be fixed over the water casks. The 
 pipes to have heads and shoes, and the casks to be sound wine pipes, set upon 
 two dressed stones, 12 high ; these casks to have each a strong i cock, with 
 portable key and lead flashing, the tops to be hinged to the casks. 
 
 A waste pipe to be fixed to each cask 12 long. 
 
 The spouts and the casks to be twice painted. 
 
 The contractor to furnish all the materials. 
 
 These cottages cost each, £118, 10s. 
 
RESTON HILL COTTAGES. 
 
 105 
 
 VIII. RESTON HILL COTTAGES. 
 (Plate XXXI.) 
 
 Six cottages, of which the plans and elevations are combined, 
 along with the disposition of the out offices and front shrubberies 
 in Plate XXXI., were erected for Mr. Home at Reston Hill, in 
 the parish of Coldingham, in 1847. They are veiy simple and 
 economical. The out offices, thrown to the ends, and screened 
 with a tabulated blank wall, comprise three coal cellars, three 
 pigsties, with dust hole and privy for each division. The cause- 
 way in front, is drained and perforated with slop holes ; whilst 
 the shrubbery, enclosed within rustic railings, is laid out in plots. 
 It will be observed from the elevation, that the kitchen has a 
 double, the room only a single window ; and, from the ground 
 plan, that the former has also double beds and the latter single. 
 Both apartments are protected by inner doors, rendering the 
 entrance porch almost a triangular space. Accommodation is 
 also found for a small press or closet, in the passage leading from 
 the kitchen to the pantry. The loft overhead, is accessible by the 
 step ladder. 
 
 These cottages cost only £73 each. 
 
106 
 
 EAST RESTON MILL COTTAGE. 
 
 IX. EAST RESTON MILL COTTAGE. 
 (Plate XXXII.) 
 
 This handsome and commodious cottage, which was erected 
 for the same proprietor as the foregoing, in 1848, is situated on 
 the bank of the Water Eye. 
 
 Its accommodations comprise — 
 
 Lobby. 
 
 Room, Bed and Closet. 
 Kitchen and Bed. 
 Back Passage and Stairs. 
 Scullery lighted from the Roof. 
 Dairy and Pantry attached. 
 
 The foregoing is exclusive of the up-stairs accommodation. 
 The out offices are an ashpit and privy. The grounds are 
 fenced with rustic gates and railings. 
 
 The cost was £192. 
 
SWINEWOOD MILL COTTAGE. 107 
 
 X. SWINEWOOD MILL COTTAGE. 
 (Plate XXXIII.) 
 
 For a few pounds additional outlay, though with perhaps 
 less external show, not having the same high-pitched roof and 
 massive exterior stacks of cliiinneys, Swiuewood Mill Cottage, 
 erected for the same gentleman, on a low site on the Water Eye, 
 affords a considerable extension of accommodations. 
 
 On the ground floor are — 
 
 Lobby and Stair. 
 Parlour. 
 
 Lighted Bed Closet. 
 
 Store. 
 
 Dairy. 
 
 Kitchen, with Closet, Pantry, and Bed. 
 Large Scullery, attached. 
 
 On the chamber floor — 
 
 Landing. 
 Closet, and 
 Three Bed Rooms. 
 
 The parlour wing, slightly advanced, shelters in its angle the 
 entrance door. The parlour is double lighted — the mullioned 
 window, in the advanced gable end, being triple, and surmounU'd 
 by a double mullioned window and slit-hole respectively ; whilst 
 the front details adjoining, are refined in similar gradations — the 
 whole exhibits a tasteful effect. The superior height of this 
 cottage is warranted by the depressed site it occupies. 
 
 This building cost £19(3. 
 
108 
 
 CAIRNCROSS COTTAGES WITH SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 XI. CAIRNCROSS COTTAGES. 
 (Plate XXXIV.) 
 
 A number of cottages at Cairncross, situated in a good agri- 
 cultural district of Coldingham parish, were improved for Mr. 
 Home in 1847, by raising the roof, introducing partitions, pro- 
 viding suites of out offices and conveniences, ruble paving the 
 front, and embellishing it with flower beds and rustic paling, as 
 far as possible, in imitation of the new and improved cottages. 
 The result is visible in Plate XXXIV. The entire cost for five 
 cottages, thus improved, was £155. 
 
 The following specifications supply details of the operations — 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS 
 
 For Repairing and Improving the present Hinds' 1 Cottages on the Farm of 
 
 Cairncross. 
 
 Mason Work. 
 
 All the overhanging and unsound walls to be taken down, and rebuilt with 
 lime mortar, well prepared. The doors and windows to be altered according 
 to the plans. The doors to have sufficient free-stone soles, droved and morticed 
 for the door standards. 
 
 The windows to have droved projecting soles. 
 
 The outside gables to have droved projecting skews to overlap the slates. 
 
 All the fire places to have droved jambs and lintels. 
 
 The kitchens to have each a malleable iron swey or crane of sufficient 
 strength, properly fixed into the jambs by malleable iron eyes, batted in with 
 lead. All partitions to be of brick on edge. 
 
 The whole of the floors to be excavated to the depth of 9 below the level 
 of the door soles, and the entire area, within the walls, to be filled up with 
 small stones, to within 4 of the floor line, and regularly levelled at tbis height, 
 and all the apartments to have floors of the best Caithness pavement, well 
 jointed. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 109 
 
 The joists to be properly built in, and all the wall heads to be beam filled, 
 close up to the roof, with ruble building. 
 
 All the inside gables to be built up to the roof. 
 
 The chimney tops to be built with droved free stone. 
 
 The outside walls to be plastered, and then to be rough-cast. 
 
 The contractor to provide all the materials. 
 
 The pigsties, ashpits, and privies, will be built according to the plan ; the 
 ashpits to be sunk 2 deep, and built all round. 
 
 The pigsties, ashpits, and privy walls, will have a scappled freestone cope 
 to project over the walls. 
 
 The ridge stone to be droved and worked to the pitch of the roof. 
 
 Joiner Work. 
 
 The safe lintels to be the breadth of the walls, and 3 thick, all of them 
 to have 9 of wall hold. 
 
 The joists to be of white Dram battens, 6^ x 2J, dressed and spiked to 
 every cupple. 
 
 The garret flooring to be of J American yellow pine, dressed on the 
 underside, grooved, tongued, and beaded, and the boards to be not more than 
 9 wide ; the hatches to be lunged with 12 T hinges. 
 
 The outside doors to be of i| dressed, tongued, grooved, and beaded, red 
 Dram battens, and to be hung to frames of red Dram battens, 6^ x jjj, properly 
 dressed and fixed into the stone work. 
 
 The whole of the outside doors to have wood stocklocks, of the value of 
 3s. 6d. each, good thumb latches, and strong T hinges. 
 
 The windows to be made of 2 deal, with solid cases, and to be hung with 
 brass pivots. 
 
 The casements to be properly primed with white lead and oil, and then 
 to be glazed with third crown glass, well puttied and back puttied. 
 
 The outside doors and windows to be twice painted with the best white 
 lead and linseed oil paint. 
 
 All the inside doors to be made of % deal, not more than 8 broad, dressed, 
 grooved, tongued, and beaded, and each door to have three cross bars 6^ x jf, 
 to be hung with 14 T hinges to frames 4^ x 2J, each door to have a thumb 
 latch. 
 
 All the doors and windows to have jj beaded facings i\ broad. The stops 
 for the doors to be \ thick. 
 
 The partition standards to be a ; x 2\, and fixed at the distance of 2 apart. 
 The warpings to be 3 x 1 and 2 apart . 
 
110 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 The room beds to be formed with i£ x 8 deal, to be lined round with \ 
 dressed, grooved, and tongued deal, is deep. The bottoms to be formed of 
 spars, 4x1 and 3 apart, nailed to bearers of sufficient strength. 
 
 All the windows to have inside soles of J deal, nailed down upon bearers 
 2X2. 
 
 The pantries to have each three shelves, of i deal, 15 broad, well supported. 
 
 Each cottage to have a stepladder, the sides to be 5 x i£, the steps to be 
 6 x ij, and 9 from top to top, and checked into the sides. See Appendix. 
 
 All the fire places to have a shelf, fixed above the lintels, 6 x i. 
 
 The whole of the timber to be of the best American yellow pine, except 
 where otherwise specified. 
 
 The privies to have each a 1 door, made in the usual manner, and to be 
 hung with 16 T hinges to frames 4 x and to have thumb latches. The seats 
 to be made of \\ deal. The lintels of the pigsties and privies to be 3 by the 
 breadth the walls require, and to have 9 wallhold each end. 
 
 The cottage roofs to have eaves and ridge boards, To broad, and | thick. 
 The slate laths to be 2 x §. 
 
 The rustic railings to be properly put up of larch, from plantations on 
 the estate. 
 
 Slater and Plaster Work. 
 
 The roofs to be covered with Bangor slates, and to have 'i\ of cover, to 
 be plastered on the inside. 
 
 Each cottage to have a skylight 12 x 10. The whole of the walls and 
 partitions of the cottages to be finished with two-coat plaster, properly smoothed 
 and rubbed in. 
 
 The contractor to provide all materials. 
 
 Plumber Work. 
 
 The front of the cottages to have 4 zinc roans or spouts, and malleable 
 iron holdfasts ; and the wall pipes to have proper heads and shoes, and to be 
 3 diameter. 
 
 The plumber to provide all materials. 
 
n.ANS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF FOUR COTTAGES AT WIIITECROSS. Ill 
 
 XII. WHITECROSS COTTAGES. 
 (Plate XXXV.) 
 
 This was a plan for the improvement of four old cottages, 
 belonging to William Dickson, Esq. of Alnwick, upon the farm 
 of Whitecross, Coldingham. That gentleman now contemplates 
 making a more extensive improvement upon them, but the design 
 may suggest a hint for altering others. It proceeds upon the plan 
 already mentioned, of applying as far as circumstances will permit, 
 the additions and improvements, distinguishing the newly erected 
 cottages. In this instance, however, the back premises are ar- 
 ranged in private courts, walled off from each other, and affording 
 within the several enclosures, a complete suit of out offices for 
 each cottage, including cellar, dairy, waterbutt, privy, ashpit, 
 pigsty, and court. The house accommodation also possesses a 
 back pantry, in addition to the kitchen witli two beds, and the 
 room with one ; whilst the internal comfort is promoted by doors 
 opening into these apartments from the porch, as in a previous 
 example. By raising the roof, additional accommodation, acces- 
 sible by a step ladder, is afforded in the loft ; and the paving of 
 the courts and front roadway, renders the vicinity of the cottage 
 site comparatively dry and clean. 
 
112 WHITEMYRE COTTAGES. 
 
 XIII. WHITEMYRE COTTAGES. 
 (Plate XXXVI.) 
 
 These three cottages were erected in 1845, in a sheltered 
 situation on the estate of Allanbank, for Sir G. H. Boswell, Bart. 
 The advanced stone porches with gablets, which give light to 
 the lofts, flanked by the turned gables, in which the south eleva- 
 tion terminates, impart, along with the style of the fenestration, 
 a very handsome effect to the front. 
 
 The ground plan accommodations comprise — 
 
 Lighted Porch. 
 
 Kitchen 15 x \2\ with Two Beds. 
 Pantry 7.4 x 4.9. 
 Back Passage. 
 Cellar. 
 
 Room 10 x 9J, with Bed 6x4, and Closet. 
 
 The cost is only £90 each. By disposing the chimneys and 
 fireplaces in the inner rather than the outer walls, the warmth 
 of the interior is kept up, and the draught of the chimneys con- 
 sequently improved, by the heating of the column of air, whilst 
 scope is afforded for removing the beds further off from the current 
 of ventilation. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 113 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS 
 
 Of Work executed in three Cottages, built at Whitemyre, btlonfjiny to the 
 
 Estate of Allanbank. 
 
 Mason Work. 
 
 The whole area within the walls of the new cottages, to he excavated to the 
 depth of 18 below the finished level of the floors. The wall tracts to be exca- 
 vated to a depth necessary for obtaining a solid foundation for the walls. The 
 substance dug out of the founds and floors, and the rubbish that may accumulate 
 in the course of the operations, to be carted away by the contractor to the 
 nearest place where he may get leave to lay these down. 
 
 The foundations to be laid on a good bed of lime, with one course of flat- 
 bedded stones, from 8 to 9 thick, having a 5 scarccment on each side of the 
 walls, beyond the thickness marked on tho plan. A stratum of Roman cement 
 to be spread | thick all over the walls and partitions. The south, cast, and 
 west fronts, will be finished with neatly hammer-dressed blocks. The height of 
 every two courses to correspond with that of a rybat or corner, and those to be 
 in equal heights : none of the courses to be below the depth of 6, all properly 
 laid and well pointed with lime, and the joints drawn in with a jj key. The in- 
 side walls, the gables, the dwarf walls, and footing for brick partitions, will be 
 built with stone and lime, and done in good ruble building. The partitions, 
 footings, and dwarf walls, to be 12 thick. 
 
 All the corners, rybats, soles, lintels, base-course, skews, chimney heads, 
 jambs, pavement in kitchen and in entrance, to be droved. Room jambs ami 
 hearths to be clean rubbed. The comers and rybats will be from 12 to 14 high ; 
 the inbands to extend through the thickness of the walls ; the outbands and 
 corners to be about equal lengths, not below 20, all to have a droved margin, 3 
 broad, and splayed heads. The courses will have headers in every course, 
 at the distance of 4, through two-thirds of the thickness of the walls. The 
 chimney stalks to be in one stone every alternate course, and flues cut out of 
 the solid. The whole of the flues to have regular sweeps, and carried up 
 separately to the bottom of the chimney stalks, to the size of 12, and from 
 thence to the top of the stalk at 16 diameter, the whole to be properly plastered 
 with good lime mortar, mixed with hair. 
 
 The kitchens and entrances to be laid with clean droved and well jointed 
 pavement, and bedded with lime mortar. The pantries and cellars to be laid 
 B 
 
114 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 with a composition of lime, earth, and engine ashes, 3j thick, properly mixed, 
 and well heat and smoothed, before getting dry. 
 
 The out houses and pigsties to be causewayed with stones. All the walls to be 
 beam filled, and neatly pointed in a proper season. Small holes to be made in 
 the lower bed of the base-course for ventilation. The chimney stalks and 
 upper bed of skews to get a coat of linseed oil when dry. 
 
 Drains to be built in the front for the purpose of carrying away the water, 
 commencing with a proper mouth and stone for receiving an iron grate, and 
 with stink trap, at the distance of i from each door, and continued till they 
 join the water channel at the edge of the road, or any other proper outlet; 
 also drains at the back, to convey the surface water into the ditch, all to 
 be 10 square, clear opening, and built with stone and lime, and to have good 
 soles and covers, with a declivity of 3 to every 12 ; the covers must be 12 
 below the finished surface at the highest point. 
 
 All the preceding mason work to be executed, as described, in the best 
 manner ; the hewn work to be neatly and cleanly wrought, without holes, wants, 
 or other defects. All the stones to be laid in their natural beds ; raglets to be 
 cut for slaters, and all necessary jobbing to complete the work. The partitions 
 to be built of brick on bed. 
 
 Carpenter and Joiner Work. 
 
 All the doors and windows to have inside safe lintels of i in thickness to 
 every foot in length, and to have at least 9 wall hold at each end. The roofing 
 to be formed with 6^ x 2\ Norway battens for baulk and rafters. The cupples 
 to be set at the distance of 18 apart, on level wall plates, 7 x ii- The ceiling 
 joists to be the same size as the cupples and placed at the same distance. The 
 joists of the bed-rooms to be 6j x 2-%, and placed at 18 apart, and covered over 
 with red wood battens grooved and tongued on the edges, if thick. 
 
 The whole roofs to be covered with sarking, § thick and closely jointed. 
 The battens for the ridge to be 2\ diameter, and fastened with iron spikes. 
 
 All the outside doors to be made of if deal, to be ploughed, tongued, and 
 beaded, and to have three cross bars, 6^ and if thick, nailed on the back of each, 
 and all to be hung on frames, 'i\ x 2%, with strong cross-tailed hinges, the stops 
 to be of I deal. 
 
 All the door frames for doors, in brick partitions, to be 5^ x 'j>\. The two 
 inner doors leading to room and kitchen in each cottage, to be framed of if deal, 
 to have 6 iron rimmed locks, and to be hung with 4 hinges. All the other doors 
 to be made of | deal, 6 broad, with three bars on the back, and to have proper 
 hinges, latches and locks. 
 
SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 115 
 
 Three tiers of shelving to be put in pantries, as shown in the plan, i thick, 
 well supported upon brackets. 
 
 The sashes will be made of 2^ wood, and hinged to solid frames, 4x2^ 
 thick, with 3 brass butts, having 4 brass rod bolts to each sash, and to be glazed 
 with third crown glass. The sashes to receive a coat of good white lead and 
 oil before being glazed. The windows to have bound shutters, thick, with 
 proper hinges and knobs, &c. All the doors and windows to have plain facings 
 and skirtings, 4 broad and | thick. The inside finishing to be of American 
 yellow pine, the remainder to be of the best Baltic red fir, free of sap wood, 
 shakes, loose knots, or other defects. 
 
 The whole ceilings to be covered with laths, split from the best Baltic tim- 
 ber, each split not to be below fa thick, nor above broad, and double nailed 
 at the joinings. 
 
 The outside doors and windows to be painted with best oil colours. 
 
 Slater Work. 
 
 The roofs to be covered with the best Easdale slates, to be shouldered with 
 well haired lime, and fixed on with malleable iron nails weighing 10 lbs. per 
 thousand, and all steeped in linseed oil when hot. The slates to have ]ih cover, 
 and care must be taken in dressing them, so as to size them regularly, both as 
 to thickness and dimensions, and to fix them on in the same manner with proper 
 band. The ridges will be covered with 5 lb. lead, M broad and neatly turned in 
 upon the battens ; the gutter to be covered with 6 lb. lead, ig broad. 
 
 Pl \ster Work. 
 
 All the walls, ceilings and partitions of rooms and kitchens, to be finished 
 with three -coat plaster. The other apartments to be finished with two -coat 
 plaster. 
 
 The contractor to furnish all materials, and whatever omissions may have 
 occurred in these specifications, the articles must nevertheless be supplied like 
 corresponding portions of the work, in other buildings of the same kind, and the 
 whole must be completed to the satisfaction of the inspector. 
 
 The estimates to be given in for each branch of the work separately. 
 
116 
 
 ALLANBANK MILL COTTAGES. 
 
 XIV. ALLANBANK MILL COTTAGES. 
 (Plate XXXVII.) 
 
 In this example, we present the plan, elevation, and section 
 of a double cottage, erected on the estate of Allanbank, on the 
 Blackadder, in 1849, also for Sir G. H. Boswell, Bart. An 
 advanced gable end forms the centre part of the elevation; and 
 the ground plan shows that the accommodation of the pair of 
 cottages comprehended in the building is unequal ; whilst the 
 section on the line A B exhibits a corresponding distribution of 
 the upper floor space, accessible by stairs in each division. 
 
 The principal cottage has — 
 
 A large Kitchen. 
 Lobby and Stairs. 
 Scullery with Boiler. 
 Pantry. 
 
 Room with Bed and Closet. 
 
 Besides the upper-floor sleeping places, in one of which there is 
 a fireplace. 
 
 The subordinate cottage has — 
 
 Entrance Lobby and Stairs. 
 Kitchen, Double-Bedded. 
 Back Pantry, and 
 Small Back Room. 
 
 Besides upper floor accommodation over these. 
 
SUNNYSIDE COTTAGES. 
 
 117 
 
 XV. SUNNYSIDE COTTAGES. 
 (Plate XXXVIII.) 
 
 The plan and elevation in Plate XXXVIII. is that of four very 
 cheap cottages, erected at Sunnyside, in the parish of Coldingham, 
 in 1842, for William Hood, Esq., for the use of his servants there. 
 They are situated on the public road to Houndwood. The only 
 out offices attached, are coal cellars, 7*6, at either end. 
 
 The ground plan accommodation consists of — 
 
 Porch. 
 
 Pantry 4£ x i£. 
 Kitchen i'2£ x i'2£. 
 Room 11 x 8. 
 
 The cost was only £60 each. 
 
118 
 
 SUNLAWS HILL COTTAGES. 
 
 XVI. SUNLAWS HILL COTTAGES. 
 
 (Plate XXXIX.) 
 
 This picturesque cottage range was erected in 1851, for William 
 Scott Kerr, Esq. of Chatto and Sunlaws. The variations in the 
 forms of doors and windows, especially the introduction of the 
 Gothic form in the central doorway, and in the windows of the 
 double gablets, and the dispersion of the chimney tops, give a very 
 lively aspect to the whole design. Although apparently one, these 
 cottages are comprised in two blocks, with an intermediate passage 
 entering through the Gothic door. Two cottages attached behind, 
 and entering from either end, constitute a sort of quadrangular 
 court in the rear, the back of which is filled in by a block of 
 detached out offices, leaving open passages at each end. 
 
 Thus the accommodation in each instance comprises, as 
 marked on the ground plan — 
 
 A. Kitchen. 
 
 B. Scullery. 
 
 C. Coals. 
 
 D. Stair to Bedroom. 
 
 E. Pantry. 
 
 F. Porch. 
 
 G. Privy. 
 
 H. Dust Hole. 
 
 I. Pigsty. 
 
(tARDENEll's COTTAGE OR GATE-LODGE. 
 
 1 19 
 
 XVH. GARDENER'S COTTAGE or GATE-LODGE. 
 
 (Plate XL.) 
 
 The gardener's cottage, intended also as a gate lodge, represented 
 on Plate XL., was designed for the late Thomas Begbie, Esq. of 
 Mains, near Chirnside, and was to have been erected for the 
 residence of his gardener. It was estimated for, and the sum was 
 £218. But it was deemed too small ; and ultimately a much 
 larger one was built, which cost £3G0. The " crow steps," as 
 they are called, give a fine rural character, well suited for a lodge, 
 to the composition. The large projecting window, besides its 
 handsome appearance, is well adapted for plants. The porch, 
 room, kitchen, scullery, pantry, and stairs, constitute the ground 
 plan accommodation. That above, is of course commodious, as 
 will be seen by the advanced gable window. The out offices, 
 consisting of a shed and storehouse for roots, besides ash-pit and 
 privy, are arranged in a sort of court behind. 
 
120 tradesman's cottage. 
 
 XVIII. TRADESMAN'S COTTAGE. 
 (Plate XLI.) 
 
 The present design, for a tradesman's cottage, was intended for 
 execution in the neighbourhood of Coldingham in 1851. The 
 erection would have cost £200. It may be considered well 
 adapted for a small farmer. The advanced gable containing a 
 triple window, mullioned, as seen in the south elevation, Plate 
 XL., is preceded by a lighted porch with a bold doorway. There 
 is considerable decision in the entire design. 
 
 The ground plan presents — 
 
 A Porch. 
 
 Parlour 12J x 12. 
 
 Two Lighted Bed Closets. 
 
 Kitchen 16 x 12. 
 
 Scullery lbj x 10, with Sink and Boiler. 
 Pantry. 
 
 Stairs to Chamber Floor. 
 Back Porch. 
 Store 10x5. 
 
 And, aside, in the rear — 
 
 Coal House. 
 
 Ashpit. 
 
 Privy. 
 
 This building, it will be perceived, adjoins the garden, and 
 the disposition of the ground without is accordingly adapted to 
 its position. 
 
 3fSS^t J < — 
 
121 
 
 CHAPTER V [. 
 
 MANSES, SCHOOLS, AND PUBLIC COUNTRY EDIFICES. 
 
 Public Buildings — Manses — Bunkle Manse — Its Accommodations — Working Sjn 
 cifications — Cost — Paxton Female School — Its Architectural Merits — Cost 
 and Accommodations. 
 
 In passing the limits of domestic privacy, as may be said to be 
 partially the case in regard to the farm steading, which is in 
 some degree a public work, or preparatory manufactory for vege- 
 table and animal produce — an element of external design is 
 naturally added to the appearance, which ought to be imparted 
 to structures more accessible to the public gaze. The building 
 therefore becomes more elegant and imposing in aspect, in inn- 
 portion to the ideas with which it is destined to be associated. In 
 the present work, we have not introduced the subject of villas or 
 country mansions, neither is it our intention to introduce those of 
 churches, county buildings, inns, or workhouses, the models for 
 which would scarcely be sought for under the head of rural 
 architecture. But the manse and the school, of which we sub- 
 join practical examples, fall peculiarly within our province; the 
 former invested with its own characteristics of comfort and quiet, 
 combined with refinement and elevation, sufficient to distinguish 
 it as the leading edifice in the social system of this country ; and 
 the latter, also aspiring as far above the common architectural 
 pretensions of the rural structures around as circumstances may 
 permit. 
 
122 
 
 BUNKLE MANSE — ITS ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 I. BUNKLE MANSE. 
 (Plates XLII. XLIII. and XLIV.) 
 
 The elevation, ground, and chamber plans of this edifice, erected 
 in 1846, in a fine wooded and romantic site near lofty hills, will 
 be found to realize the distinctive features due to the important 
 class of buildings to which it belongs. 
 
 The plan of the ground floor presents a handsome — 
 
 Entrance Lobby and Staircase. 
 
 Dining Room. 
 
 Drawing Room. 
 
 Closet. 
 
 Study. 
 
 Kitchen with Back Stairs. 
 
 Dairy, Pantry, Scullery, and Coal House, all opening 
 on the Kitchen Court. 
 
 On the Chamber Floor — 
 Landing and Stairs. 
 
 Two Front Bed Rooms with commodious Dressing Rooms 
 
 attached. 
 Two Back Bed Rooms. 
 Water-Closet. 
 Passage. 
 Back Stairs. 
 Servants' Room. 
 
 Lumber Rooms in the rear, with separate Stair. 
 
 The dimensions of these will respectively be found to be 
 ample, on applying the scale of feet. The study, though readily 
 accessible, is in the most retired central portion of the house. 
 The kitchen, by the interposition of the closet, is completely 
 detached from the public rooms. The principal bed rooms and 
 their relative dressing-rooms, have each independent access. 
 
 The following are the — 
 
WORKING SPECIFICATIONS — MASON WORK. 
 
 123 
 
 WORKING SPECIFICATIONS. 
 
 Mason Work. 
 
 The whole area of the building, and two feet beyond the exterior face of 
 walls, to be excavated to the respective levels shown on the plans and sec- 
 tions ; the trenches for Avails to be taken out to such a depth as to secure a 
 solid foundation. Tbe two feet space beyond the walls will be filled up with 
 dry stones. Tbe wliole soil, or otber substance, to be removed and laid down 
 where directed. 
 
 The first course of foundations will be laid with large flat bedded stones 
 and scarcements, to be formed as shown on the section. 
 
 The whole of the exterior face of the walls to be executed with scappled 
 blockers in courses, from 6 to is in height. 
 
 The walls of house, with the exception of the cellar, coal house, scullery, 
 and lumber room, will be levelled at the height of every 20 for the reception 
 of bond timber, and the walls to be all beam filled to the roof. 
 
 The flues will be executed with circular fire clay cans; and every opening 
 or void in the building, will have saving arches thrown across, with bricks or 
 hammer-dressed stones. 
 
 The bridlings of fire places to have 4^ brick arches for the hearths. 
 
 The door and window rybats, soles and lintels, and all the corners, to have 
 a 6 droved margin. The rybats and lintels to have a ii splay wrought upon 
 them. 
 
 All the cornices, base course, steps, parapets, copes, and label mouldings, 
 to be neatly tooled. 
 
 The corners and rybats to bo regularly out and in band: the out bands 
 of rybats to be not less than 20 long, and the inbands to extend through the 
 whole thickness of the Avails. 
 
 The entrance hall, staircase and passage, to be finished with smoothed 
 Arbroath pavement, and upon a bed of shivers, Avith lime mortar, the whole 
 to have smooth stone skirtings 6 high, projecting jf before the face of the 
 plaster. 
 
 The floors of kitchen, scullery, store closet, kitchen pa>sag<>, dairy, pantry 
 and closet, to be laid with droved Arbroath pavement, and to have droved 
 stone skirtings 4 high. 
 
 The principal stair to be hanging ; the steps to have at least d bearing in 
 
124 
 
 CARPENTER AND JOINER WORK. 
 
 the walls, and to be smoothed and worked to the drawings, having bottle and 
 fillet on the front and returns, and to have smoothed stone skirtings. 
 
 The whole of the fireplaces, except those of dining and drawing-room, will 
 have smoothed stone jambs and lintels, projecting 4 from the plaster; and all 
 the fireplaces to have smooth polished stone slabs and hearths, except when 
 droved pavement is specified. 
 
 A smoothed stone shelf, 18 broad and 2 thick, to be placed in dairy and 
 pantry, as shown in the plan. 
 
 The chimney stalks to be of pick dabbed ashler, with a i droved margin. 
 
 The walls of court to be executed with hammer dressed freestone, on 
 both sides, and to have a droved cope, 18 broad and 7 thick, rounded on the 
 top. 
 
 The pillars of the gate to be droved, each course to be formed of two 
 stones, except that for the crook of gate, which will be in one stone ; and 
 the mason must cut all the holes for the railing and other jobbing for his 
 department. 
 
 The stones of the old manse, which will be taken down by the con- 
 tractor, may be used, as far as they are sufficient, in the walls of the new 
 building. 
 
 The whole of the freestone used in the building, must be of good quality, 
 and as nearly as possible of equal colour. 
 
 The mortar used in the building, to be composed of good well burnt lime 
 and sharp sand, in the proportions of one load of lime to three cart loads of 
 sand. 
 
 Neat marble jambs, of the value of five guineas each, to be put up in the 
 dining and drawing-rooms. 
 
 The soil pit for the water closet to be dug out in the court, 10 deep and 
 4 in diameter, and built round with dry stones, and covered with large strong 
 flags. 
 
 The whole of the work to be done in the most workmanlike manner, and 
 the mouldings wrought according to full sized drawings, which will be furnished. 
 
 Carpenter and Joiner Work. 
 
 Bond timber, 4 x i£, will be built into all the walls throughout their whole 
 extent, at the distance of every 26, with the exception of the cellar, scullery and 
 coal house. The safe lintels to be of such breadth as the walls may require, 
 and to be 3^ thick; those of dining and drawing-room windows will be 6 thick, 
 and all to have 12 rest on the walls at each end, 
 
CARPENTER AND JOINER WORK. 
 
 125 
 
 The lath straps will be i square, and 12 apart, from centre to centre, firmly 
 nailed to the bond timber. 
 
 The sleeper joists in ground floor will be 6j x 2^, placed 18 apart from 
 centres, upon wall plates 62 x ii- 
 
 The joists of bed-room floor to be lb x 2 '\, and 18 apart from centres, laid 
 upon wall plates, 8 x i£, and to have 16 wall hold at each end, and all to be 
 firmly strutted across the centre with pieces, 7x2. 
 
 The whole of the bed-room floors to be deafened with a composition of lime, 
 earth and ashes, laid upon boards i£ thick, with fillets i square, firmly nailed t<» 
 the joists. 
 
 The cupples of the roof will be of the form shown in the sections; the 
 legs of rafters to be ftj x i\, the valley pieces to be 9 x 3, the baulks or collar 
 beams, (jj x 2\, and the bearers for platform, (j£ x i\ ; the wall plates to be 
 8J x \\. 
 
 The cupples will all be placed 18 apart from centre to centre ; the boarding 
 of platform to be i Memel deal, and the sarking to be of \ deal. The standards 
 of partitions in bed-room floor will be 4 x 2, and 16 apart from centres; the sill 
 and top piece ito be 4 x 2%, and at the level of the door lintels a trimmer, 4x2, 
 will be placed entirely through, above which the partition will be trussed with 
 braces of the same dimensions. 
 
 The grounds for wall finishing will be 2\ x i', and those for window finish- 
 ings will be 2\ x if. 
 
 The door standards to be t\ x 2\ ; the whole of the flooring deals to be 
 finished i'| thick, cut out of good red Dram battens, grooved and tongued on the 
 edges, and cleaned off when laid. 
 
 The wall presses will be lined with g grooved and tongued deal, not exceed- 
 ing 6 broad, and each press to have four shelves of i deal. 
 
 The store closet to have three shelves of i deal, supported on (tamed 
 brackets, and to be 15 broad. 
 
 Fifty superficial feet of shelving to be put up in such places as shall be 
 pointed out, and fifty lineal feet of moulded plate, 4 £ broad and 1 thick, to be 
 fixed where pointed out. 
 
 The cistern of water closet to be 4 x 3 x 2^, made of i'J Memel deal, dove- 
 tailed, to be supported upon strong bearers. 
 
 The back, front, and scat of water closet, will be framed of deal. 
 
 The principal entrance doors will be framed with 2 '\ deal, in four panels, 
 with double margin stiles, to have ogee and bead planted mouldings, and to be 
 hung with three 7 double jointed edge hinges, and to have a i'o rim lock, of the 
 value of twenty shillings. 
 
 The entrance doors to kitchen, kitchen court, and coal house, to be of ij 
 
126 
 
 CARPENTER AND JOINER WORK. 
 
 deal, grooved, tongued, and beaded on the joints, with three cross bars 6^ broad, 
 to be hung with strong T hinges, and to have a good To rim lock. 
 
 The doors of dining, drawing-rooms, and study, will be 7 high and 3 wide, 
 framed of 2 wood in four panels, with ogee and bead planted mouldings on both 
 sides, to be hung with 5 double jointed hinges, and to have mortice locks, of the 
 value of 10s. 6d. each. 
 
 The door from staircase to entrance hall, to be covered with green cloth of 
 fine quality, and to have a patent spring, value 7s. 6d., and brass handles. 
 
 The doors to all the other apartments in the house to be 6 . 9 high and 3 
 wide, of if deal, in four panels, with planted mouldings, to be hung with 5 
 hinges, and to have 6 mortice locks, value 7s. 6d. each. 
 
 The doors of wall presses to be of wood, moulded on one side, to cor- 
 respond with the entrance doors of the several apartments, and to be hung with 
 4 hinges, and to have long press locks of good quality, with mortice furniture, to 
 correspond with the other doors. 
 
 The door to water closet to have a good spring latch, and 'i tower bolt 
 on the inside. 
 
 The window shutters will all be framed of ij wood, in two panels, with a 
 double margin rail in centre, and moulding similar to those of doors, to be 
 hung with 3^ edge hinges, the back folds to be of g deal, clamped on the ends, 
 and to be hung with 2\ back -fold hinges. 
 
 The shutters on ground floor will have strong malleable iron shutter bars, 
 stretching completely across in a diagonal direction, and fastened with anchor 
 heads. 
 
 The windows in bed room floor to have good shutter bars, 18 long, with 
 spring fastenings. 
 
 The whole of the window shutters to have brass knobs, and the sashes to 
 have brass sash fasteners and lifters. 
 
 The soffets, backs and elbows of windows, will be framed with deal, and 
 panelled the same as shutters, the space behind the shutters to be lined with 
 f plain lining. 
 
 The window cases will all be of jj deal, the sills to be 3^ deep. The sash 
 frames of 2 wood, the astragals to be | thick, and all to be glazed with the best 
 Newcastle crown glass. A glazed sash will be put into the blank window in 
 east front. 
 
 The windows in kitchen, scullery, and bed rooms will be single hung — 
 those of dining, drawing-rooms, and study, to be double hung, with brass axle 
 pulleys, cast iron weights, and patent sash cord. The doors and windows in 
 dining, drawing-rooms, and study, and entrance hall, will have 6 double faced 
 moulded architraves, set on blocks. 
 
PLUMBER WORK. 
 
 127 
 
 The doors and windows of bed-rooms, and landing of stair, will have 5 and 6 
 moulded architraves, set on blocks, and the doors and windows of kitchen, 
 scullery and servants' room, will have moulded facings i\ broad. 
 
 The skirtings in dining, drawing-rooms and study, to be 8 high and l thick, 
 to project 2, with a cavetto on the upper side, and a \\ ogee and fillet moulding 
 planted on the upper edge. The skirtings of bed rooms and stair landings will 
 be 6 high, with an ogee moulding. 
 
 The skirtings in principal rooms to be tongued into the floor. 
 
 The back stairs will be formed of wood, with \\ treads, i risers, 2 string- 
 boards, notched for the steps, and to have a deal hand-rail and i bal lusters. 
 
 The principal stair to have neat cast iron ballusters, of the value of 
 10s. 6d. per yard, and a moulded mahogany hand-rail, 3 broad. 
 
 The whole of the timber used in the building, to be of the best quality, and 
 the framing of every description, with the finishings, must be cut out to the 
 sizes, and laid up for seasoning witbin two months after the commencement of 
 the work. 
 
 The roof timbers, the floor timbers, bond, standards, lath straps, window 
 cases and sashes, and all outside work, must be of the best Heme! timber, mdeM 
 where Dram battens are specified, and the interior finishings of good American 
 yellow pine, free from large and loose knots, and sap wood. 
 
 The windows to be primed with oil paint before being glazed, and with all 
 the exterior wood work, to receive two coats of oil paint. 
 
 Plumber Work. 
 
 The platform of roof to be covered with G tt> lead, with proper rolls; the 
 ridges, hips, and valleys, to be covered with G lb lead, ii broad. 
 
 The roans or spouts along the eves of roof, to be of 7 lb lead, the edge 
 being turned over an iron rod, and to be secured with malleable iron hold fasts, 
 steeped in linseed oil when hot, placed 20 apart. The roan on the south front, 
 will be continued through the pediments of windows, in a pipe 4 diameter, to 
 which they will be carefully soldered. 
 
 The water closet to be fitted up with the best patent apparatus, the soil 
 pipe to be i\\ 2 waste pipe, and \ feeding pipe. 
 
 The conductors for rain water will be 3 diameter, four of which will be 
 required. 
 
 The cistern of water closet to be lined with 7 lb lead. 
 
128 
 
 SLATER AND PLASTER WORK. 
 
 Slater Work. 
 
 The roofs to be covered with the best Easdale or Ballahulish slates, of good 
 size, laid with at least 2\ of cover, upon a shouldering of haired lime and double 
 nailed, the nails to weigh 10 K> per thousand, and to be steeped in linseed oil 
 when hot. 
 
 Plaster Work. 
 
 The standards, wall straps, and ceilings, to be lathed with the best split 
 lath, and the whole of the walls and ceilings will be finished with the best three 
 coat plaster, free from cracks or blisters, and the ceilings and cornices to be 
 guaged and run with stucco ; the dairy, pantry and scullery may be finished 
 with two-coat plaster. 
 
 The dining, drawing-rooms, and study, to have moulded cornices, according 
 to a drawing which will be given ; girting about 14. The entrance hall, stair- 
 case, and bed-rooms, will have cornices ; girting from 8 to ib. 
 
 The scontions of windows to be rendered before the lining is fixed, and the 
 space behind the skirtings will be filled up flush with the plaster on walls, with 
 well haired lime. The composition for deafening the floors will be laid 3 thick, 
 and run over with thin lime, when dry, to fill up the cracks. 
 
 The cost of this building was £795. 
 
 ■ 
 
129 
 
 II. PAXTON FEMALE SCHOOL. 
 (Plate XLV.) 
 
 The status which the clergyman holds in his parish is con- 
 nected with the manse in which he dwells in the common 
 mind, and hence the dignity and consequence of the structure 
 is to be judiciously sustained. The schoolhouse, of what- 
 ever description, must also possess its distinguishing charac- 
 teristics, nothing being calculated to impress respect and atten- 
 tion on the youthful mind so strongly, as an imposing and 
 important appearance. If, as in the case of our little model, 
 Paxton Female School, erected by W. F. Home, Esq. of Wed- 
 derburn and Billie, in the village of Paxton, for the benefit 
 of the children there, this can be done at a comparatively 
 moderate cost, so much the better ; for (although it must be 
 understood, that the stones for the building were supplied from 
 the proprietor's grounds, on the banks of the Whittadder) 
 the cost of this building did not exceed £300. In point of ele- 
 gance, it may certainly be conceded to surpass any of the 
 mean and meagre elevations given for schools, in the Minutes 
 of the Committee of Council on Education, whilst its simplicity 
 commends it to the eye of taste. 
 
 Its ground plan accommodation is this — 
 
 Lobby. 
 
 School-Booh. 
 Back Porch. 
 Front Parlour. 
 Bed-Room. 
 Kitchen. 
 
 i 
 
130 
 
 PAXTON FEMALE SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS. 
 
 Kitchen Porch. 
 
 Cellar. 
 
 Closet. 
 
 Ashpit. 
 
 Privy. 
 
 In general terms, the working specifications employed for the 
 cottage erections will apply in this instance. 
 
131 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GATES AND RAILINGS. 
 
 Degeneracy of Rural Barriers and Fences — Their susceptibility of Symmetrical 
 Arrangement — Entrance Gate and Details — Designs of Rustic Railings — 
 Their Value as Accessory Features of Improvement — Description of four 
 Examples. 
 
 Rural barriers and fences, under the designation of gates and 
 railings, have under the technical application of struts and ties, 
 degenerated into things hardly a remove above the pretensions of 
 the sheep-flake or the hurdle. In conjunction with architecture, 
 however, the railing, as well as the gate, is not only susceptible 
 of taking on a finished and even a pleasing aspect, but absolutely 
 requires to be constructed in keeping with that degree of taste 
 which alone will harmonize with new and improved buildings. 
 We therefore proceed to show what may be done to impart to 
 the most ordinary materials, of which these rustic fences arc 
 constructed, a symmetrical arrangement, becoming the position 
 which they occupy as adjuncts of rural architecture. 
 
 — - — *£5?£3PS%3Sfe=»^ — 
 
132 
 
 CHIRNSIDE MANSE ENTRANCE GATE AND DETAILS. 
 
 I. CHIRNSIDE MANSE ENTRANCE GATE AND DETAILS. 
 
 (Plate XLVI.) 
 
 In this instance, we present the plan of an entrance gate for the 
 manse of Chirnside, simple but substantial in its construction, and 
 yet sufficiently free and graceful in appearance, to be removed 
 above the commonplace character of wooden gates of its kind. 
 The cost of it was £3, 10s., and it is perhaps some proof of its 
 suitableness, both in cost and appearance, that since originally 
 designed and constructed, it has been re-erected by several other 
 parties, and applied to a similar purpose. The gate is not usually 
 much regarded in the external appointments of the manse or 
 mansion. It nevertheless, in many situations, may be taken as 
 the index or exponent of the unseen edifice, to which it opens 
 the way, and is therefore entitled to be carefully considered and 
 handsomely constructed. Whilst, perhaps, a reference to the sec- 
 tions in the present plate, will enable the details of the structure 
 to be readily comprehended, it is proper to point out, that the 
 advantage of the open sparring A B, is to impart strength to the 
 frame work, and scope for letting in the shoulders of the head 
 pieces fairly into the upright spars, as well as to afford that open- 
 ness of appearance which in a gate implies lightness, combined 
 with strength •, whilst the closer sparring, C D, below, is calculated 
 to exclude the passage of fowls and small animals, as well as to 
 vary the symmetry of the structure — this part of the design being 
 balanced by the upper series of protruding pegs or spikes, cor- 
 responding partly with those below. Separate scales of inches 
 have been given for these sets of details. The real strength of 
 the gate, from which the attention is diverted by the ornamental 
 parts of its construction, consists, in its two side struts and 
 three horizontal ties, formed upon the ordinary principles of car- 
 pentery. 
 
DESIGNS OF RUSTIC RAILINGS. 
 
 133 
 
 II. DESIGNS OF RUSTIC RAILINGS. 
 
 (Plate XLVII.) 
 
 Around the cottage gardens and enclosures for shrubs, plants, 
 and flowers, of many of our preceding designs in rural architec- 
 ture, may be seen lines of rustic railing. Now it is obvious, 
 that a very little attention to the introduction of something like 
 design into these frequently rude and ungainly accessories, might 
 impart such an air of neatness, of novelty, and of attention, to 
 improving the appearance of a place, as would lead necessarily 
 and naturally to greater care and pride in the preservation of all 
 around, and upon the principle, that " cleanliness is akin to god- 
 liness," thereby contribute its quota to the elevation of the peasant 
 classes ; and surely it is worth while extending the benefits of a 
 systematic plan, and well considered arrangement, even to these. 
 Thus we have been led to present four different designs for rustic 
 railings, which we have no doubt may suggest endless variations 
 in their construction. They are all more or Less assimilated in the 
 under part of their structure, which is in vertical or upright lines, 
 or spars, close or open, as it may or may not be requisite to fence 
 out poultry, hares, rabbits, &c; and it is in the arrangement of 
 the top rails — those which really meet the eye most imposingly 
 — that systematic design is applied. In No. 1, we have simple 
 diagonals crossing each other. In No. 2 the same, but doubled 
 in number, and giving a lozenged character to the design. In 
 No. 3 a reduction of the figure in No. 1, applied intermediately 
 betwixt open rails above and below, produces a third variation. 
 And in No. 4, the figure No. 1 is filled in with ;i central paral- 
 lelogram, and side props, giving a very finished configuration to 
 the pattern. 
 
A P P E N D IX. 
 
137 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I.* — BAMBURGH COTTAGES, 1809. 
 
 (Plate XLVIII.) 
 
 The cottages of which we give the plan and elevation in this Appendix, were 
 built by Lord Crewe's trustees, for the use of the workmen upon the estate 
 at Bamburgh, after the plan of the late Dr. Thorp, Archdeacon of Northum- 
 berland, so early as the year of our Lord, 1809 ; and they furnished, even at 
 that early period, most of those requisites of health and comfort which it is 
 our present object to secure generally to our agricultural labourers. 
 
 The prejudice in favour of close beds, connected with a severe climate and 
 insufficient houses, was then, and is still, too strong to be altogether disre- 
 garded ; and accordingly, space was reserved for their reception, to be used 
 hereafter for more convenient furniture. 
 
 To every one of the cottages, a cow house and piggery is attached, with 
 a cow's grass, garden, and potato garth ; and the happy effects are seen in the 
 order and cleanliness of the dwellings and furniture, and in the respectable 
 appearance, the becoming habits and general bearing of the inhabitants. 
 
 With some improvements, and with alterations suited to particular situ- 
 ations, this plan of the late Archdeacon Thorp has been adopted upon the 
 estates of Lord Crewe, in the extensive and judicious farming establishments 
 of the last forty years ; and it forms a good model to work upon, remarkable 
 for a date so far back as 1809. 
 
 * Communicated by the venerable Archdeacon Thorp of Durham. 
 
138 
 
 APPEN DIX. 
 
 II. — H.R.H. PRINCE ALBERT'S MODEL HOUSES 
 FOR FAMILIES. 
 
 Plans and suggestions for dwellings, adapted to the working classes, and 
 including the model houses for families, huilt by command of H.R.H. Prince 
 Albert, K.G., in connection with the Exposition of the Works of Industry 
 of all Nations, 1851, were published by the Society for Improving the Con- 
 dition of the Labouring Classes, which we learn has since merged into a prac- 
 tical joint stock building association. The first object of this Society was, by 
 arranging and executing plans as models for the improvement of the dwellings 
 of the working classes, both in the metropolis and in the manufacturing and 
 agricultural districts, by establishing the field garden and cottage allotment 
 system, and also friendly or benefit or loan societies upon sound principles, and 
 reporting the results with a view of rendering them available as models for 
 more extended adoption, to forward the objects for which it was constituted. 
 Their second object was to form county, parochial, and district associations, 
 acting upon uniform plans and rules. And the third, by correspondence with 
 clergymen, magistrates, landed proprietors, and others disposed to render assis- 
 tance in their respective localities, either individually, or as members of local 
 associations, to carry out these objects. 
 
 The model houses for four families, erected at the cavalry barracks, Hyde 
 Park, by command of His Royal Highness, as president of this society, are 
 arranged upon two floors, each dwelling being as follows — 
 
 Lobby. 
 
 Front Living Room, 14 . 2 x 1*0 . 4. 
 Two Back Bed Rooms, each 9x5.9. 
 Scullery. 
 
 Parents' Room, 11 . 6 x 9. 
 Water Closet and Stairs. 
 
 In the scullery they are fitted with a sink under the coal box, a plate rack 
 over the dust shaft, a meat safe ventilated through hollow bricks. There js 
 a staircase of slate, with dust place under — a cupboard in the living room, 
 warmed from the back of the fireplace — and a linen closet, if required, in a 
 recess in the parents' room. The minute details of the constructive arrange- 
 ment are most interesting. We can only call especial attention to the advantages 
 
A. F P E N D I X . 
 
 139 
 
 afforded by tlie use of hollow bricks, in securing an effective system of insensible 
 ventilation. " Fresh air," it is stated, " is admitted from any suitable point of 
 the exterior of the building, to a chamber at the back of the living room fire- 
 place, where, being warmed, it may be conducted to any convenient place of 
 exit, above the level at which the fresh air is admitted. Vitiated air may be 
 conveyed either into the chimney flue, or to any other suitable place of exit 
 through the upper wall courses, perforated for the purpose, beneath the springing 
 of the strengthening (brick) arch, or through the arch bricks themselves — suit- 
 able air-bricks and ventilators having been prepared with these express ends in 
 view." It is added, " In most parts of England, the cost of four houses, built on 
 the plan of tbis model structure, with ordinary materials, and finished similar to 
 the ground-floor apartments, may be stated at £440 to £480, or from £110 to 
 £120 for each tenement, contingent on the facilities for obtaining materials and 
 the value of labour. Such dwellings, let at 3s. Gd. to 4s. a week, would, after 
 deducting ground rent and taxes, afford a return of 7 per cent, on the amount 
 of outlay. Where hollow bricks are obtainable at a fair price, their use ought 
 to effect a reduction of about 25 per cent, on the cost of the brick work, or 
 equal on these four houses to about £40." 
 
 Under the auspices we believe of Earl Shaftesbury, in connection with this 
 society, a model lodging-house was also devised for unmarried labourers, adapted 
 to agricultural, mining, and quarry districts. Embodying the leading features 
 of the society's model lodging-house in George Street, St. Giles's; it was con- 
 sidered to provide a comfortable, cheap, and healthy abode, free from the temp- 
 tations to vice and immorality which beset the inmates of a crowded cottage, 
 where, without regard to age or sex, the married and unmarried often herd to- 
 gether and contaminate each other. " The youth," it is observed, " who quits tlie 
 parental cottage, from its want of accommodation for a growing family, or from 
 a desire for independancc, would find in such a house those comforts wbich the 
 unmarried labourer rarely enjoys, and to attain which he too frequently forms 
 an independant connection. Instead of passing his evenings in the beer shop, he 
 would be led to seek both amusement and instruction, in the pages of a selected 
 library, placed under the care of the superintendent. Or his leisure hours might 
 be profitably employed in an allotment garden, if an acre to an acre and a half 
 of ground were devoted to the occupants of such a house. 
 
 " The number of lodgers which the proposed plan will accommodate, may 
 he either fourteen or sixteen, as two of the compartments are sufficiently large 
 to contain two beds ; under ordinary circumstances it would be preferable to 
 build a second house, rather than to increase its size to any considerable extent. 
 
 " The arrangement provides on the ground floor two sets of apartments ; 
 one intended for the superintendent and his wife ; the other for the lodgers, 
 comprises a living room, fitted up with tables and benches, a pantry, having a 
 
140 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 separate, secure, and well ventilated safe, for the food of each inmate. A fuel 
 store, with a shed for depositing the implements of the inmates, and other con- 
 veniences are placed at the back. 
 
 " The whole of the upper floor is occupied by the dormitory, sub-divided 
 by Avooden partitions, 6 . 6, into fourteen compartments, each 8.ijxi.8, having 
 its own window, with a door opening into the central corridor, and being fitted 
 up with a bed, a stool, and a locker or clothes' box. The staircase is in the 
 centre. The ventilation of the upper flat of the dormitory is effected by open- 
 ings over the windows in the (front) gabled walls. 
 
 " This effort to improve the moral and physical condition of the agricultural 
 labourer, may be made with the prospect of a return on the outlay, equal at least 
 to that usually derived from cottages. It is suggested, that the superintendent 
 might be a head labourer, married, and without family." 
 
 In the other plans published by the Society, two pairs of double cottages 
 are shown especially adapted for agricultural districts. Each dwelling consists 
 of a living room, the general superficial dimensions of which are about 158, clear 
 of the chimney projection ; a scullery, containing not less than about 60 or 70 
 superficial, which is of sufficient size for ordinary domestic purposes, without 
 offering the temptation to its use as a sitting room for the family ; besides a 
 copper, in some cases a brick oven, provision is made for a fireplace in all the 
 sculleries, by which arrangement the necessity for the fire in the living room, 
 through the summer, is avoided ; a pantry for food, a closet in the living room, 
 and a fuel store out of the scullery, are provided in all the cottages. 
 
 The sleeping apartments, in conformity with the principle of separating the 
 sexes, so essential to morality and decency, are three in number, having each 
 its distinct access and a window ; their dimensions somewhat vary — the parents' 
 bed room in no instance contains less than 100 superficial, whilst the smaller 
 rooms for the children, average from 70 to 80 superficial. The height from the 
 ground floor to the first floor, is 8 . 9, giving nearly 8 clear height for the living 
 room. The bed rooms are 7 .9, where ceiled, to the collar pieces, and i to the 
 top of the wall plate, which for the security of the roof, is in no case severed by 
 the dormer windows. 
 
 In reference to situation, where it is practicable, it is recommended that 
 the front should have somewhat of a southern aspect ; the embosoming in trees 
 should be avoided, and particular attention ought to be paid to secure a dry 
 foundation ; where this is not otherwise attainable, artificial means should be 
 adopted, by forming a substratum of concrete, about 12 thick, or by bedding slate 
 in cement, or laying asphalte through the whole thickness of the wall under the 
 Hoor level. The vicinity of good water and proper drainage are points of obvious 
 importance. A gravelly soil is always preferable to clay, and a low situation is 
 seldom healthy. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 141 
 
 It is desirable that every cottage should staud in its own enclosed garden, 
 of not less than about one eighth of an acre, and have a separate entrance from 
 the public road. One well may generally be made to answer for two or more 
 cottages ; and it is of great importance, that it be so placed, as not to be liable 
 to contamination either from the drains, cesspools, or liquid manure tank ; the 
 latter should however invariably be made water tight, the cost of which will 
 soon be repaid to the tenant by its fertilizing products. 
 
 The ground floor should be raised not less than 6 above the external 
 surface ; and where wood floors are used, they might be ventilated by means of 
 air bricks built in the external walls. The warmest and most economical floor 
 is probably that formed with hollow bricks. In some parts of the country lime 
 and sand floors are pretty generally used, and found to last, when well made, 
 upwards of forty years. A foundation or substratum should be prepared, about 
 6 thick, with coarse gravel or brick-bats, and lime-core, well beaten to a level 
 surface ; in damp situations tar may be added to this concrete, on which is to be 
 laid the lime and ash floor thus prepared. Take good washed sand, free from all 
 earth and small stones, together with the ashes of lime, fresh from the kiln, in 
 the proportions of two-thirds of sand and one-third of lime ashes (where obtain- 
 able, the substitution of one-third portion of smiths' ashes, or pounded coke, for 
 one-half of the sand, increases the durability and hardness of the floor). Mix 
 the sand and lime ashes well together, and let them remain in a body for a 
 fortnight, in order that the lime may be thoroughly slaked ; then temper the 
 mortar, and form the floor with it, 3 thick, well floated and so worked, that it 
 be not trodden on till it has lain for three days, when it should be well rammed 
 for several successive days, until it becomes hard, taking care to keep the sur- 
 face level — then use a little water, and smooth it with a trowel ; after this, keep 
 the floor free of dirt, and when perfectly dry, it may be rubbed over twice with 
 linseed oil, which gives the appearance of stone instead of sand. The price 
 paid for such floors, is about 6d. per yard for labour, and 8d. per yard for 
 materials. 
 
 For the substance of the above, we are indebted, through the kindness of 
 Henry Roberts, Esq., the honorary architect, to the publications of the society. 
 
142 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. III. — LUMSDEN MODEL DWELLINGS. 
 
 These workmen's town houses — plans, elevations, details, and descriptions, 
 of which have heen published by James Wylson, Esq., architect — have beeu 
 erected in Glasgow for James Lumsden, Esq., formerly Lord Provost of that 
 city. Mr. Wylson prefaces his task with the declaration, that "It is not 
 known the amount of misery and degradation which is pent up and piled in 
 the ancient dingy rotten abodes ; or how foetid the atmosphere which their 
 miserable occupants must breathe, rendering their flesh flaccid, and their skin 
 withered." " Nor," says he, " can the condition of those confined closes, and 
 the beings that exist in them be otherwise, so long as the accumulations which 
 are permitted in them, and the imperfect drainage continue exhaling their 
 putrescence on the atmosphere." We have great satisfaction in directing 
 attention to this analogous system of architectural improvements to that on 
 which we have embarked ; for the sanitory principles that guide, and the bene- 
 ficial results, whether moral or physical, that attend them both, must really 
 be identical. The leading principles for the improvement of workmen's dwell- 
 ings, according to Mr. Wylson, embrace perfect underground drainage, thorough 
 ventilation, ample supply of pure water, the fullest advantage of the broad 
 light of day, arrangements conducive to that sense of independance a man loves 
 to feel in his home, conveniences suited to his wants, and upon the scale to 
 which his means entitle him ; and finally, as far as practicable, a structure 
 composed of the least perishable fireproof materials, finished in every respect 
 so as not to incur any great risk of defacement by wantonness or accident. 
 Equally averse to the existing old Scotch and French systems, of piling dwell- 
 ings one on another, and the English one, of ranges of independant cottages, 
 with small kitchen gardens attached (which has caused the rapid and incon- 
 venient extension of London), he adopts the barrack or community system 
 — making however as few things common as possible — and doing away with 
 out-door offices and sunk storeys. Though not a subject for architectural 
 display, some degree of effect has been obtained by Mr. Wylson, combined 
 with a certain amount of economy, by a union of brick and stone in the building 
 — the ground storey, including entrance door, being entirely of stone, and the 
 three storeys over it of red brick, with stone quoins, strings, sills, lintels, 
 fascia, cornice, blocking course, and chimney shafts. 
 
APPEND I X. 
 
 143 
 
 The building situated to the north of the Normal School, New City Road, 
 Glasgow, consists of four storeys, and contains, in all, thirty-one dwellings — 
 on each floor a wide central passage, communicating with the common staircase, 
 and lighted by a window at each end. The arrangement gives the one main 
 apartment its utmost value, by obviating the necessity for any cleansing within 
 it ; the bed closets open out of it, so that there is no occasion for strewing 
 clothes about the room. The bed bottoms are iron fixtures. Each dwelling 
 has a scullery opening to the main apartment, containing dresser, sink, coal 
 box, and press, likewise a small well aired larder in the outside wall ; a 
 kitchen grate with oven and boiler ; an ash box, with cinder sieve in the 
 hearth, which is of cast-iron, and includes a fender cast with it ; water closet, 
 opening from the small entrance lobby, with simple economical apparatus, ami 
 a trap covering a shoot into the dust shaft, through which all dry refuse is 
 conveyed to a cellar in the basement. Water and gas are provided for. The 
 ventilation is by a covered opening in the top of each window, and by a few 
 feet of the floor at each end of the central passages being omitted, permitting 
 a free upward circulation to the roof in which there are covered outlets. There 
 is a wash house outside on the ground storey, with all necessary appurtenances, 
 including Robertson's Centrifugal Drying Machine and a bath closet, common 
 to all the tenants in due succession. The window recess of each house has 
 a table, hinged to the wall, having brackets for its support when in use. The 
 ashes and rubbish from the dust cellar are removed by means of a four wheeled 
 truck, let down the steps from the back yard, running on a narrow inclined 
 plane at each side. 
 
 In most houses, consisting of a room and kitchen, the latter is immediately 
 entered by the outer door; but the houses here described having little Lobbies, 
 the chilly draughts from the cold passages outside, created by the rising column 
 of heated air in the chimney, are greatly modified. 
 
 The rent looked for, as sufficient to meet the views of the founder of this 
 establishment, is £6 per annum. 
 
144 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. IV.— NEW FOLDING-UP COTTAGE LADDER. 
 
 The subjoined diagram shows a newly invented folding-up step ladder, which 
 the author has found to work well in practice — 
 
 The hatchways of one storey cottages are generally made 
 in the ceiling of the porch 
 
 or passage, and the ladder hatchway 
 
 must either stand in the pas- % 
 sage, or he hooked up to the v 
 ceiling, which requires a good 
 deal of exertion and trouble. 
 The space taken up by the 
 new ladder, when folded, is 
 only three inches. One side 
 should be fixed to the wall. 
 The steps should be made of 
 beech, or some other hard 
 wood. The iron eyes are 
 % inch thick, and clenched 
 to the sides ; and the 
 iron pin is ^ inch dia- 
 meter. There are two 
 eyes in each joint. 
 The hole for the pin 
 should be nearer 
 to the under 
 side of the 
 step than the 
 upper side, to 
 give strength -„„ 
 to the steps. 
 
 
 
 / f 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 f &SIZE 
 
 3 FEET 
 
EAST BLANERNE FARM HOUSE 
 
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 EAST BLANERNE FARM HOUSE 
 
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Pimm 
 
 BROOMDYKtS FARM HOUSE. 
 
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BROOMDYK tS FARM HOUSE 
 
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 PLAN OF BLACKPOTTS FARM HOUSE ERECTED 1848 
 
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 HUXTON COTTAGE 
 
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 PLAN ELEVATION & SECTION OF A DOUBLE COTTAGE ERECTED ON THE ESTATE Of ALLANEANK 
 
 1849 
 
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 Scale «/ Ret 
 
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 PLAN & ELEVATION OF A TRADESMAN S COTTACE. PROPOSED TO BE ERECTED IN 1851 
 
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 BUNCLE MANSE ERECTED 18*6 
 
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PiateKLV. 
 
 PAXTON FEMALE SCHOOL 
 
 Erected. 184-5. 
 
1* ? ? t £ e. > 7 * £ & t« p 
 
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 PLAN &o OF ONE OF THE BAMBURCH COTTACES ERECTED IN 1809 
 
 1 CfiOUNO PL/ft/ 
 
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GETTY CENTER LIBRARY M 
 
 i 
 
 3 3125 00600 8532 
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