Blackburn House is a category A-listed Georgian house, situated between

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

and Seafield near Bathgate in West Lothian, Scotland. The house comprises a compact central

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

mansion house, with substantial east and west pavilions. The house was built by George Moncrieff in 1772. Moncrieff also founded the small town of Blackburn, for which the House still provides a gateway landmark. The rural setting became transformed by coal and oil-shale mining, with miners' rows built in the adjacent villages. Most of the dereliction has since been cleared, although the conspicuous Five Sisters shale

spoil tip A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas, such as England and Wales, ...

survives, as a scheduled monument, still dominating the outlook south from the house. The decay of Blackburn House stemmed from it becoming the farmhouse to a small farm, now no longer viable. The owners were unable to maintain the house, which was abandoned in 1972 for a new bungalow. Blackburn House thus fell into a state of serious disrepair, and was included in the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland at its inception in 1990. The house could not be sold for private restoration as it stood amidst the working farm buildings. West Lothian Council's newly-established Lowland Crofting scheme provided a solution, with permission for ten new houses granted on condition the house was released, and a third of the farmland put into woods walks and wildlife for community benefit, reducing the farm itself to a

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

. Restoration was completed in May 2008. Today, the Blackburn House serves as an office, event, and filming location. Blackburn House won the Georgian Group Award in November 2008 for the Best Restoration of a Georgian Country House in the UK.

References

{{Coord, 55.8731, -3.5983, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Category A listed buildings in West Lothian Country houses in West Lothian