Inscribed dormers identify a seventeenth-century household, while later witchcraft, smuggling and tunnel stories reveal how one house accumulated local legend.
Quick facts
- Date
- Dated 1626; eighteenth-century entrance and later residential conversion
- Architect / designer
- Built for William Lowrie and Marion Speddie; individual mason unrecorded
- Type
- Seventeenth-century burgh house with inscribed dormers
- Designation
- Listed building, Category A (LB40386)
- OS grid reference
- NT 13080 78294
Architecture and continuing use
The painted, harled house has two storeys and an attic, with crowstepped gables, tall stacks and three decorated dormer heads. A late eighteenth-century central doorway regularised the street front. Rear stairs and altered openings record later division into separate dwellings.
Its story
William Lowrie and Marion Speddie built the house in 1626, placing initials, hearts and a love knot on its dormers. Lowrie’s sister-in-law Janet was condemned as a witch, which helped shape the building’s later name and stories. The property served as a mission hall and design office before conversion to three homes in the early 1980s.
Why it is included
Category A listing protects a conspicuous early burgh house whose carved identity and later reuse illuminate domestic life and local memory.
What to notice
- Three pedimented dormers with dates, initials and love knots.
- Late classical doorway inserted into the older harled front.
- Crowsteps and tall end stacks above the High Street roofline.
Reading the surroundings
View from the pavement and respect residents’ privacy. Do not enter closes, stairs or rear ground, and do not search for the legendary tunnel within private property.
Timeline
- 1626 Dormer inscriptions recorded the Lowrie and Speddie household.
- 1950s The old house was adapted for use as a mission hall.
- 1970s–80s Office occupation was followed by division into three residential units.
What we know — and what remains uncertain
The association with Janet Lowrie is historical, while tunnel and smuggling claims remain unverified tradition.
Sources & further reading
- Historic Environment Scotland: Black Castle, LB40386 — Current designation status, mapped location, date, fabric and architectural interest.
- Trove designation: LB40386 — Parallel national record identity and archival context.
- City of Edinburgh Council: Queensferry conservation area character appraisal — Historic High Street and vernacular townscape context.
Location
OS grid reference NT 13080 78294 · Location confidence: High: the current national designation supplies an exact mapped National Grid Reference; public text separately states access and current-use uncertainty. · Select the marker to open its satellite view in Google Maps. On desktop, drag Pegman (the yellow figure) onto a blue road. On mobile, turn on the Street View layer and tap a blue road. Other photo markers may be user-contributed.
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