Site Report

WoSASPIN 17834
NS97SE 11 9882 7392.

(NS 9882 7392) Kipps (NR) (remains of)
OS 6" map (1968)

The house of Kipps in an oblong rubble-walled block, originally 3 storeys high, 59 1/2' E-W by 24 1/2' with a rectangular stair-tower at the SW angle, and a circular stair-tower projecting from the N. wall. The W part, including the stair, was the original house, which was built in 1625-6; it was extended to the E later in the century.
It is now (ie 1964) roofless, and very dilapidated, especially at the gable ends, having been unoccupied since the 1880s.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 1924; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1892; SDD List 1964

As described.
Visited by OS (JLD) 5 December 1952 and (JP) 13 August 1974

The house and three additional buildings are depicted on General Roy's map (sheet 06/6c) with much the same layout as on the first edition Ordnance Survey 6 inch map, but with a slightly different footprint for the additional buildings. The site is called Willieshaw (Willie's Ha or Hall?) on Roy, not Kipps. The maps were consulted because of a planning application for extension to the Kipps farmhouse, which appears to be a building post-dating the first edition map, where it is not shown. The later farmhouse is located in an area which may have been the walled garden to the east of the original building complex, as depicted on the first edition map.
Entered WoSAS (CS) 16/02/2005

Kipps, early 17th century
Ruins of a three-storey château, circular stair-tower at north-east angle and a rectangular one to south-west, in a commanding site overlooking the valley between Cockleroy and Bowdenhill. Home of Sir Robert Sibbald, 17th-century naturalist and antiquary, who relished its distance from any other seat of the gentry, so that it is a perfect solitude and without the ornaments of art, which other seats have, but has commendable advantages by nature's free gift.
Taken from "West Lothian: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Stuart Eydmann, Richard Jaques and Charles McKean, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
Entered WoSAS (MO'H) 17/05/2022