Ardno Farm | 168 occupants (1841 - 1971)
JS Site Visit Notes: Cairndow, Friday September 28, 2007
Ardno Farmhouse
Ardno Farmhouse has two-storey facade with concealed attic storey. It is a three bay house with slated roof, close eaves, projecting verges and modern rebuilt chimney stacks. The window sashes are relatively new and probably follow the four pane pattern of the original. It is possible that one original window survives with a heavy central glazing bar, located in the south west re-entrant to provide light to the stair. Window proportions suggest that the whole house, including the rear jam, was built in the third quarter of the 19th century, but this may have been a re-modelling of a pre-existing house. (1841 census?). There are modern extensions to the east and west. There is a complete farm square to the rear; this is open to the east with a concrete portal shed in the middle. The barn has ventilating slit openings and ventilating roof. The west side probably occupied the stables and the byres were probably closest to the house. The area to the south has most recently been used as a sheep shed.
This house was probably always intended to have a T-plan with an ovice jam at the rear. Originally the house would have been accessed from the north, which looked out over the loch. Within this front facade is an entrance hall with a stair at the back with cast iron balusters and handrail, which date from the 1850-60s. The dining room would have been located to the east and a smaller room to the west with the kitchen function housed in the jamb to the north. It is presumed the drawing room was located above the dining room at the east side, with two bedrooms on the west side. Attic space was provided above this for servants and storage and light was provided in this space in the form of skylights. On the upper landing there are three doors: the centre one going into a steep stair into the attic, and one for each bedroom to the north and south. The main stair divides at the south wall with a subsidiary flight going into a rear bedroom, which has a fireplace c. 1860.
The house appears on the 1841 census, was this house pre-1841 substantially re-worked in the third quarter of the century. The fielded panel doors could very well be of the 1820s or 1830s, the door into the rear bedroom, with Grecian ogies, is contemporary with the stair balustrade and the fireplace.
The McDonald family moved into Ardno Farm house in 1963 and they were there until 1971).
