page_title: Lands of Borland
section_title: Borland
hierarchical_section_title: Lands of Borland / History / The Mansion House, Castle, Farm and Estate / Borland
caption_attribution_description: English: Borland Farm, Dunlop prior to 1916. East Ayrshire, Scotland.
context_page_description: The Lands of Borland formed an estate lying between Aiket Castle and the town of Dunlop, East Ayrshire, Parish of Dunlop, Scotland. The laird's house at Borland stood near the Sandy Ford over the Glazert Water. The names Bordland, Boreland, Borland, Laigh Borland, Low Borland and Nether Borland have all been applied to the site of the laird's house.
context_section_description: A substantial and ornately carved table style gravestone in the Dunlop graveyard records a William Anderson who died aged 70 on 3 December 179(?)6 and his wife who died in 1784. The memorial was erected by his son Robert Anderson of Borland. This stone is now leaning against the 'Picture House' building.
  The 1797-98 Farm Horse Tax records list John Dunlop's horses at Laigh Borland.
  In around 1823 Andrew and Mary Brown inherited "the original mansion, lately rebuilt, on the banks of the Glazert, in a remarkable pleasant situation.." Mary Dunlop married Andrew Brown of Craighead, the eldest son of John Brown of Hill and received as her inheritance the portion of Borland that contained the old mansion house, "..romantically situated by the Glazert Water..". One of their first acts was to rebuild the old mansion house. These reports do not agree on when Borland was rebuilt however the early 19th century seems likely. The walled garden was probably built in the 19th century and stones from the old castle may have been used in its construction.
  Borland, later Nether or Laigh Borland, was described in the OS 'Name Book' of 1855-57 as being composed of "Two small farm houses & steadings with gardens etc. attached, in a sheltered situation on the side of Glazert Burn about ½ mile south-west of Dunlop, the property of Andrew Brown Esq. of Hill and occupied by Mr. James Templeton and Mr. Robert Frew."
  Walled gardens are not generally associated with farms and the presence of one at Borland suggests that the site at one time had a higher status than that of a tenanted farm. The walled garden is square, probably originally 18th century in date with its south, east and west walls rebuilt circa 1916 and greatly reduced in height and also in length. They are mainly built from random rubble with flat sandstone copings and are much thinner than the north wall. The prominent cylindrical gate piers with conical caps to the south also date from 1916 and are placed slightly back from the line of the wall. An old door on the east side has been blocked off. A culvert or cundy runs beneath the garden and exists as a stream on the north side that drains into the Glazert Water. The north wall was not altered in 1916. A sundial is indicated as standing in the centre of the garden and is visible in an old black and white photograph.
  Laigh Borland was demolished in the mid 20th century and it is recorded that a 16th or 17th century datestone with the initials of the Brown family once existed above the entrance door of the attached building that was latterly a kitchen. Its relative inaccessibility due to the ford had been partly overcome by a hardcore access from Over Borland however it had fallen into disrepair and the council required its demolition on safety grounds as a public access still existed via North Borland with a pedestrian crossing at the ford for footpath walkers, the concrete bases used as handrails supports are still present.
  The workers cottages, one occupied by Mrs Watt, were thatched up until demolition and an associated small ruined building, probably a pigsty, still exists partly built into the hillside. The family grave of the Watt family records that Martha Watt née Stevenson died in 1916 at Laigh Borland at the age of 81. The cottages were demolished shortly after this date and the changes to the walled garden enacted at the same time.
  In 1913 a wooden footbridge crossed the Glazert Water and stepping stones were present.
caption: Borland House prior to 1916
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