St Margaret's Hope Gate Lodge, North Queensferry

1829; enlarged 1916, Ernest Newton. 2-storey and part single storey gatelodge of 3 telescoping blocks stepping down to N on fall of ground. Rendered; painted ashlar margins, cills and quoins; stone cills; band course at 2-storey blocks. Open pedimented gables; ornamental timber porches to entrance doors.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 5 bays grouped 2-2-1 (single storey block to left; 2, 2-storey blocks to right). Single storey piended block to left, 2 windows. Central block with 2-leaf timber boarded door and ornamental timber porch with chevron-banded bargeboards and pendant finial to right, bipartite window to left. Small 1st floor window above door, bipartite window to left. Advanced single bay to right; bipartite windows at ground and 1st floors.

S ELEVATION: open pedimented plain gable. Timber boarded door and ornamental timber porch with chevron banded bargeboards, pendant finial and open lattice sides at 1st floor, formerly opening on to elevated ground near entrance gates (access now blocked).

E (ROADSIDE) ELEVATION: recessed single bay to left; bipartite windows at ground and 1st floors. 2-storey flat-roof extension to right; single windows to left and right returns. 1st floor bipartite window to right of extension. Single storey piended block to far right, central bipartite window.

N ELEVATION: plain wallhead.

B– with St Margaret's Hope (see separate listing). St Margaret's Hope is a small bay between Rosyth Castle and Long Craig. The site, on a steep hill, overlooks the Forth to the SW. This bay is known to be the place where St Margaret, future wife of King Malcolm of Canmore (1058-93) landed with her brother Edgar Atheling and her sister Catherine in 1069 on her journey to Dunfermline from Orkney. The land was acquired from the Guildry of Dunfermline in 1825 by Elias Cathcart of Auchindrane, who built the earlier house on the site in or soon after 1829, calling it St Margaret's. This early house, known today as St Margaret's Hope, was enlarged significantly by Ernest Newton (1856-1922) (see separate listing) and it is particularly his involvement which accounts for the category B, as an architect of national significance. The house passed to Captain William Elder in 1855 and subsequently to his inheritors; it was later acquired by the Admiralty for the Commander in Chief, Coast of Scotland in 1916, at which time Newton was employed. St Margaret's Hope was known as Admiralty House during WWI. The house remained the residence of the Rosyth Naval Commander until 1996, when it was handed over to the Scottish Executive and then leased out to a private company, Universal Steels. The gatelodge formerly consisted of two dwellings which were amalgamated at the same time the house was extended in 1916. The gates are contemporary to the construction of the first house in 1829 but were also modified in 1916.

4 August 2021: External inspection finds the building disused and the probable cementitious walls are showing areas of damp, the painted margins and dressings showing areas of damage and are in need of maintenance. There is vegetation growth on skews. Windows are mostly boarded up. Where exposed, glass has been broken and window frames are damaged. Doors are boarded up and timber porch to south has collapsed. The site is fenced off and is now cut-off from the rest of St Margaret's Hope estate by the north approach to the Queensferry Crossing.

3 May 2024: Desk-based assessment suggests the building remains At-Risk.