Listed farm building in ‘ruinous’ condition

The future is looking bleak for a dilapidated early 18th century Stirling listed building.

Borrowmeadow Farm near the sports village, whose condition has been deteriorating since the early 2000s at least, had been damaged by fire in 2018 and is now without a roof.

The B-listed building owned by Stirling Council is currently assessed as being at risk in Historic Environment Scotland’s Buildings At Risk Register.

An entry in the register dated August 2018 states: ‘External inspection finds the house is now a roofless shell following a recent fire at the site.

‘Local planners advise all internal timber including floors, the roof structure and safe lintels were all lost in the fire.

‘Stirling Council is working to assess the condition of the remaining building fabric.

‘A security fence is erected around the buildings and invasive vegetation is noted at the site. Condition moved to Ruinous, and risk to High’.

HES describe Borrowmeadow as ‘a good example of an earlier 18th century laird’s house with associated buildings’.

According to their listed buildings portal, laird’s houses ‘for middle ranking landowners became fashionable in the late 17th and early 18th century’.

It adds: ‘They are characterised by their simple symmetrical facades and typical Scottish detailing, such as the crowstepped gables which are found at Borrowmeadow.

‘They provided comfortable and well laid out accommodation.

‘Borrowmeadow has an unusually long L-plan pantiled steading which is physically attached to the house.

‘A boundary wall divides the steading from the house. The first Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1860-61 shows that a further range which is no longer extant ran at right angles to the granary forming a courtyard of farm buildings which despite their proximity to the main house were clearly distinguished from it with the use of the boundary wall.

‘The house had a separate entrance from that of the courtyard. A horse mill which served the granary no longer survives’.

According to the register council planners had highlighted the farm ‘as a possible Building at Risk’ in October 2003.

Two years later it was discussed as part of the site for the proposed sports village.

Discussions were also held on the farm’s future the following year. In September 2012 an external inspection found that a roof light and render had been lost since a previous site visit and the adjacent single storey tiled section had ‘deteriorated considerably’ as well as larger and new holes in the roof from three years before.

In March 2018 a member of the public had advised that ‘roofs have collapsed at the complex’.

A Stirling Council spokesperson said this week: “The council is aware of the current state of the building and is actively assessing all possible options for its future as part of our strategic redevelopment plans for the area.