Estate houses in Scotland

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Manderston House
, built in the early twentieth century and one of the last major estate houses built in Scotland

Estate houses in Scotland or Scottish country houses, are large houses usually on

peel towers
with Renaissance plans, in houses designed primarily for residence rather than defence.

After the

Abbotsford House and Queen Victoria's retreat at Balmoral Castle. In the twentieth century the building of estate houses declined as the influence of the aristocracy waned, and many were taken over by the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland
.

After the

Adam Style. The Baronial revival resulted a synthesised Victorian style that combined elements of the Renaissance, symbols of landed power and national affiliation with modern fittings. From the late sixteenth century, many estate houses were surrounded by gardens influenced by Italian Renaissance gardens. From the late seventeenth century the formal gardens at Versailles and Dutch gardens were important models. In the eighteenth century less formal and symmetrical layouts became common with the development of the English landscape garden
. In the nineteenth century there was a return of the formal garden near to the house. The development of the Palladian country house in the seventeenth century separated the family of the householder from the servants. Gentry families spent much of their time visiting family, friends or neighbours and hospitality was an important part of life. Major activities included hunting, cards, chess and music. Large and sumptuous meals were an important part of social life. In the eighteenth century, estate houses were designed as centres of public display, but in the nineteenth century they became increasingly private and developed distinct male areas.

Architecture

Renaissance

See also: Renaissance in Scotland
Linlithgow Palace, the first building to bear that title in Scotland, extensively rebuilt along Renaissance principles from the fifteenth century.

The origins of private estate houses in Scotland are in the extensive building and rebuilding of royal palaces that probably began under

Henry VIII and adopted forms that were recognisably European.[4] This was followed by re-buildings at Holyrood, Falkland, Stirling and Edinburgh,[5] described as "some of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Britain".[6]

Much of this work was planned and financed by

harl).[8] Work undertaken for James VI demonstrated continued Renaissance influences, with the Chapel Royal at Stirling having a classical entrance built in 1594 under the direction of William Schaw and the North Wing of Linlithgow, built in 1618, using classical pediments, designed by James Murray. Similar themes can be seen in the private houses of aristocrats, as in Mar's Wark, Stirling (c. 1570) and Crichton Castle, built for the Earl of Bothwell in 1580s.[9]

Scots Baronial

Main article: Scottish baronial architecture
The sixteenth-century Claypotts Castle, showing features of the Baronial style

The unique style of great private houses in Scotland, later known as Scots baronial, originated in the 1560s. It kept features of the high walled Medieval castles that had been made largely obsolete by gunpowder weapons and may have been influenced by the French masons brought to Scotland to work on royal palaces. It drew on the

corbels, continuing into circular bartizans at each corner.[13] The new houses built from the late sixteenth century by nobles and lairds were primarily built for comfort, not for defence. They retained many of these external features, which had become associated with nobility, but with a larger ground plan. This was classically a "Z-plan" of a rectangular block with towers, as at Colliston Castle (1583) and Claypotts Castle (1569–88).[10]

Particularly influential was the work of

Moray House, Edinburgh (1628) and Drumlanrig Castle (1675–89), and was highly influential until the baronial style gave way to the grander English forms associated with Inigo Jones in the later seventeenth century.[10]

Restoration

See also: Palladian architecture
Kinross House, one of the first Palladian houses in Britain

During the turbulent era of

Sir William Bruce (1630–1710), considered "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland", was the key figure in introducing the Palladian style into Scotland, following the principles of the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). Palladio's ideas were strongly based on the symmetry, perspective and values of the formal classical temple architecture of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and associated in England with the designs of Inigo Jones. Bruce popularised a style of country house amongst the nobility that encouraging the move towards a more continental, leisure-oriented architecture.[15] He built and remodelled country houses, including Thirlestane Castle and Prestonfield House.[16] Among his most significant work was his own Palladian mansion at Kinross, built on the Loch Leven estate which he had purchased in 1675.[16] As the Surveyor and Overseer of the Royal Works he undertook the rebuilding of the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse in the 1670s, which gave the palace its present appearance.[15] After the death of Charles II, Bruce lost political favour, and later, following the Glorious Revolution, he was imprisoned more than once as a suspected Jacobite.[17] These houses were predominantly built using well-cut ashlar masonry on the façades, while rubble stonework was used only for internal walls.[18]

Het Loo in the Netherlands.[19]

Eighteenth century

Main article: Georgian architecture
East front of Hopetoun House, designed and built by William Adam

After the

Act of Union of 1707, growing prosperity in Scotland led to a spate of new building.[18] Scotland produced some of the most significant architects of this era, including Colen Campbell (1676–1729), James Gibbs (1682–1754) and William Adam (1689–1748), who created work that to some degree looked to classical models. Campbell was influenced by the Palladian style and has been credited with founding Georgian architecture. Architectural historian Howard Colvin has speculated that he was associated with James Smith and that Campbell may even have been his pupil.[15] He spent most of his career in Italy and England and developed a rivalry with fellow Scot James Gibbs. Gibbs trained in Rome and also practiced mainly in England. His architectural style did incorporate Palladian elements, as well as forms from Italian Baroque and Inigo Jones, but was most strongly influenced by the interpretation of the Baroque by Sir Christopher Wren.[20]

William Adam was the foremost architect of his time in Scotland,

George III, and in 1766, with Robert Adam, as Architect to the King.[27] More international in outlook than Adam, he combined Neoclassicism and Palladian conventions and his influence was mediated through his large number of pupils.[28]

Baronial revival

Main article: Scottish baronial architecture
See also:
Gothic revival
Scots Baronial
revival.

Some of the earliest evidence of a revival in Gothic architecture is from Scotland.

Mellerstain and Wedderburn in Berwickshire and Seton House in East Lothian, but it is most clearly seen at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire, remodelled by Adam from 1777.[29]

Important for the adoption of the style in the early nineteenth century was

Arts and crafts designs first featured in Philip Webb's (1831–1915) Gothic design at Arisaig (1863–64). It was pursued by William Lethaby at Melsetter House, Hoy (1898) for a Birmingham industrialist.[32]

Twentieth century to the present

See also: Architecture in modern Scotland and Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain
Broughton Place, a twentieth-century modern building in the seventeenth-century Scots Baronial style

The Baronial style peaked towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the building of large houses declined in importance in the twentieth century.

James Miller (1864–1906) in the Adam style.[35] The baronial style continued to influence the construction of some estate houses, including Skibo Castle, which was rebuilt for industrialist Andrew Carnegie (1899–1903) by Ross and Macbeth.[32][36] English architect C. H. B. Quennell (1872–1935) designed a neo-Georgian mansion at Altmore (1912–14) for the owner of a Moscow department store.[32]

There was a lull in building after the First World War and social change undermined the construction of rural estate houses. Isolated examples included the houses designed by

Charles Brand of Dundee, demolished at least 56 country houses in Scotland in the 20 years between 1945 and 1965.[39] The shortage of building materials further reduced the number of new large luxury houses. Isolated examples included Logan House, designed by David Style in the 1950s. In the 1960s there was Basil Hughes's design at Snaigow for the earl of Cadogan and the remodelling of Gask House by Claude Phillimore. This period also saw considerable restoration of existing houses.[32]

Interiors

Further information:
Scottish Royal tapestry collection
The seventeenth-century painted ceiling at Aberdour Castle, Fife

The creation of estate houses led to greater privacy, comfort and luxury for the families who lived in them. Interiors were remodelled, with broader staircases, family rooms were added and heating was improved. Oriel windows gave better views, more light and could be opened for fresh air.[40] After the Reformation, which virtually ended religious patronage of art in Scotland, craftsmen and artists turned to secular patrons.[41] With the departure of the Scottish court for England in 1603, Jenny Wormald argues that there was a shift "from court to castle" in patronage and creativity; estate houses became repositories of art and elaborate furnishings that illustrated the wealth and taste of their occupants.[42]

One result was a flourishing of Scottish Renaissance painted ceilings and walls in estate houses. These included detailed coloured patterns and scenes, of which over a hundred examples survive.[41] The designs relied upon continental pattern books that often led to the incorporation of humanist moral and philosophical symbolism, as well as elements that called on heraldry, piety, classical myths and allegory.[41] The earliest example still extant is at the Hamilton palace of Kinneil, West Lothian, decorated in the 1550s for the then regent the James Hamilton, Earl of Arran.[43] Other examples include the ceiling at Prestongrange House, undertaken in 1581 for Mark Kerr, Commendator of Newbattle, and the long gallery at Pinkie House, painted for Alexander Seaton, Earl of Dunfermline in 1621.[41]

King James VI's arms and plasterwork in the great hall at Muchalls Castle

Scottish estate houses were increasingly adorned with paintings, including

historical paintings.[44] Thomas Warrender (fl. 1673–1713) made his living as a house decorator, working closely with architects, including William Adam.[45] He may have trained James Norie (1684–1757), who with his sons James (1711–36) and Robert (d. 1766) also worked with the Adams, painting the houses of the peerage with Scottish landscapes that were pastiches of Italian and Dutch scenes.[46] They tutored many artists and have been credited with the inception of the tradition of Scottish landscape painting that would come to fruition from the late eighteenth century.[47] The painters Allan Ramsay (1713–84), Gavin Hamilton (1723–98), the brothers John (1744–68/9) and Alexander Runciman (1736–85), Jacob More (1740–93) and David Allan (1744–96), mostly began in the tradition of the Nories, but were artists of European significance, spending considerable portions of their careers outside Scotland.[48] Henry Raeburn (1756–1823) was the most significant artist of the eighteenth century to pursue his entire career in Scotland, and from this point Scottish painters would be able to be professionals in their homeland, often supplying the nobility and lairds with works to fill the walls of their houses.[49]

Carving and plasterwork also became a feature of estate houses. Some of the finest domestic wood carving is in the Beaton panels made for

Thirlestane, Berwickshire and at Holyroodhouse. Dunsterfield was also active at Balcaskie, Fife and probably at Kellie Castle.[54]

Abbotsford House
, which helped define the synthesised Victorian Renaissance style of the Scots Baronial interior

In the eighteenth century the development of the

Adam Style.[55]

Nineteenth-century interiors could often be lavish and eclectic.[57] The origins of this style were in Scott's Abbotsford, where the author began the incorporation of actual old architectural fragments and pieces of furniture on a lavish scale (the effective beginning of 'antique' collecting in Scotland). He also initiated the treatment of new surfaces so as to resemble old ones, with new wood darkened to resemble old oak.[58] The Adam solution of a castellated exterior with a neo-classical interior was abandoned and in Baronial Revival houses this change was extended to create a synthesised Victorian style that combined elements of the Renaissance, such as plastered or rubble walls, unpainted stone fireplaces and pitch pine timberwork, with seventeenth-century style plaster ceilings. To this were added symbols of landed power and national affiliation, including displays of tartan, weaponry and stuffed animals' heads. Integrated into these traditional materials and styles were modern fittings such as sprung upholstery, gas lighting and water-closets.[59]

Gardens

Main article:
Gardens in Scotland
The restored formal walled garden at Edzell Castle

Gardens, or yards, around medieval castles, abbeys and houses were formal and in the European tradition of

Liberal Arts and the seven Planetary Deities, the expense of which eventually bankrupted him.[61]

Taymouth Castle painted in 1733 by James Norie, showing William Adam's improvements to the house and gardens

The legacy of the

Loch Leven Castle at Kinross. Alexander Edward (1651–1708) continued in the tradition established by Bruce, adding landscapes at houses including Hamilton Palace and Kinnaird castle, Angus.[60] Grand schemes in the French tradition included James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry (1662–1711) reworking of the terraces at Drumlanrig Castle, which incorporated the Douglas family crest into the parterres design, and the militaristic earthworks undertaken for Field Marshal John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair (1679–1747) at Castle Kennedy, Wigtownshire.[60] The Earl of Mar's palace at Alloa was the grandest realisation of the Versailles style gardens in Scotland: it included canals, parterres, statues and ornamental trees.[62]

Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries and Galloway in 1880, showing the mixture of "natural" and formal landscapes that dominated estate houses in the nineteenth century

In the eighteenth century there was a reaction against the "absolutism" and "popery" of the French court and a retreat from the expense of maintaining large formal gardens. Less symmetrical layouts became common with the development of the "natural" style of the

the Hermitage Dunkeld and the Hermit's Cave at the Falls of Acharn, which put an emphasis on concealment and the surprise revelation of the natural.[60]

In the nineteenth century the writings of

monkey puzzle tree, meant that Victorian and Edwardian gardens were characterised by an eclectic mix of the formal, picturesque and gardenesque. By the end of the century the ideas of William Robinson (1838–1935), Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932) and the Edinburgh-based Frances Hope (d. 1880), arguing for informal flower-based gardens, had begun to dominate. They resulted in a revival of the seventeenth-century mixed flower and kitchen garden, as carried out at Kellie Castle, and Earlshall, Fife by Robert Lorimer.[60]

Social life

Dinner at Haddo House (1884) by Alfred Edward Emslie

The development of the Palladian country house in the seventeenth century separated the family of the householder from the servants. Previously sharing the hall, and bedding down at a master's feet, or door, servants were now given separate small chambers. Sometimes these were placed on a mezzanine floor, as at Kinross. Servants were less visible, using backstairs that kept them away from members of the family and guests and they fulfilled necessary and sometimes unpleasant tasks. They were also fewer in number, of lower social status and predominately female.[63] A country house could have 10 to 20 servants and large houses had more.[64] A hierarchy of positions developed from the butler and housekeeper to footmen and maids. The sexes were increasingly segregated into their own quarters.[65]

Relatively isolated, gentry families spent much of their time visiting family, friends or neighbours. As a result, hospitality was an important part of life.[61] Leisure activities pursued by the gentry included hunting, cards and chess. Music remained important in noble houses, with accounts listing professional musicians hired to entertain the family and guests.[66] However, professional musicians were expensive to maintain. In the eighteenth century members of the household often provided musical entertainment on the harpsichord, organ and piano. House libraries often contained considerable quantities of music, as at Dalkeith Palace, where the Duke of Buccleuch's daughter collected vocal music between 1780 and 1800. In the nineteenth century it was the women of the family who were the chief performers and men were not expected to play the piano in drawing rooms.[67]

Deer Stalking in Scotland: Getting Ready by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (1851)

The consumption of large and sumptuous meals was an important part of social life. Some were elaborately planned, others the result of unexpected guests. These usually consisted of three or four courses, with a variety of dishes served in each course, from which the diner was expected to select. In the eighteenth century service was à la française, where all the dishes were impressively displayed on tables at the same time, until the advent of service à la russe in the nineteenth century, when they were served sequentially. Alcohol in various forms and toasts were an important part of formal dining and until the Regency era dessert and drinks were often taken in a separate dessert room.[68]

In the eighteenth century, estate houses were designed as centres of public display, but in the nineteenth century they became increasingly private. The first family wing in Britain was added to

grouse shooting, particularly in the Highlands, was confirmed by Queen Victoria's purchase of the hunting lodge at Balmoral. It rapidly expanded as southern industrialists and businessmen began to see the sports offered by Scottish estates as a status symbol, such as the Spelsbury Family at Dunmavarie in the 1920s. Large areas of land were designated for hunting and hunting parties became a major part of the life of the Scottish estate house.[70] There were also a wider range of activities that developed in the nineteenth century for members of the leisured classes, such as croquet, lawn tennis, billiards, carriage rides, charades and amateur dramatics.[71]

Current ownership

In the twentieth century, as the finances and needs of the landed classes changed, many surviving country houses were sold and became boarding schools, hospitals, spa retreats, conference centres and hotels.[72] The National Trust for Scotland (founded 1931) cares for post-Medieval castles and estate houses that were still in occupation until the twentieth century and are open to the public.[73][74] Historic Scotland (created as an agency in 1991) cares for over 300 properties, which are publicly accessible.[75][76] The Landmark Trust restores and operates historic buildings as holiday homes.[77]

See also

Notes

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    , p. 225.
  2. ISBN 0-7486-0849-4
    , p. 9.
  3. ISBN 0-19-162433-0
    , p. 195.
  4. ISBN 0-7486-0276-3
    , p. 5.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-19-162433-0
    , p. 189.
  6. ISBN 0-19-162243-5
    , p. 102.
  7. ISBN 0-7486-1455-9
    , p. 120.
  8. ISBN 0-521-44461-6
    , pp. 391–2.
  9. ISBN 0-19-162433-0
    , pp. 201–2.
  10. ^
    ISBN 0-300-05886-1
    , pp. 502–11.
  11. ISBN 978-0-486-24898-1
    , p. 224.
  12. ISBN 978-1-84176-962-2
    , p. 33.
  13. ISBN 0-300-05886-1
    , p. 502.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7486-0849-2
    , p. 70.
  15. ^
    ISBN 0-300-12508-9
    , pp. 755–8.
  16. ^
    ISBN 1-85158-295-9
    , pp. 57–8.
  17. ISBN 0-8390-0156-8
    , pp. 73–8.
  18. ^
    ISBN 1-904320-02-3
    , p. 26.
  19. ISBN 1-85158-295-9
    , pp. 62–7.
  20. ISBN 0-300-05886-1
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  21. ^ C. McWilliam, The Buildings of Scotland: Lothian (except Edinburgh) (London: Penguin, 1978), p. 57.
  22. ISBN 0-86241-830-5
    , p. 48.
  23. ^ N. Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture (London: Pelican, 2nd Edition, 1951), p. 237.
  24. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7486-0849-2
    , p. 106.
  25. ^ Adam Silver (HMSO/Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1953), p. 1.
  26. ISBN 0-300-06940-5
    , p. 11.
  27. ISBN 1-902163-50-8
    , p. 15.
  28. ISBN 0-416-56190-X
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  29. ISBN 0-415-02992-9
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  30. ISBN 0-275-98414-1
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  31. ISBN 978-0-7486-0849-2
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  32. ^
    ISBN 0-19-969305-6
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  33. ISBN 0-300-05320-7
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  34. ^ "John Kinross", Dictionary of Scottish Architects, retrieved 9 February 2012.
  35. ISBN 1-85669-106-3
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  36. ^ "New hotel is Scotland's first castle of the 21st century". Sourcewire. 10 August 2007.
  37. ISBN 1-84513-051-0
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  38. ISBN 0-905978-05-6
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  39. ^ RCAHMS, "Exploring Scotland's Places", Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, archived from the original, retrieved 8 August 2011.
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  41. ^
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  42. ISBN 0719047250
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  43. ISBN 0-7486-1455-9
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  44. ISBN 0719047250
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  45. ISBN 0500203334
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  46. ISBN 1-4094-2618-1
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  47. ^ E. K. Waterhouse, Painting in Britain, 1530 to 1790 (London: Penguin, 4th edn., 1978), p. 293.
  48. ISBN 0-19-162243-5
    .
  49. ISBN 1-902669-73-8
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  50. ISBN 1-85158-581-8
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  51. ^ "One of the 'Beaton Panels'", National Museums of Scotland, retrieved 14 May 2014.
  52. ISBN 0-7486-0849-4
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  53. ISBN 0-85263-748-9
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  54. ISBN 0903598140
    , pp. 13–14.
  55. ^
    ISBN 0903598140
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  56. ISBN 0903598140
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  57. ISBN 0748608494
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  58. ISBN 0748608494
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  59. ISBN 0748608494
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  60. ^
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  62. ^
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  63. ISBN 0415250498
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  64. ISBN 186232123X
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  65. ISBN 1134728042
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  66. ISBN 0748612998
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  67. ISBN 0719047250
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  68. ISBN 0719047250
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  69. ISBN 1134728042
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  70. ISBN 0748621709
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  71. ISBN 178033690X
    .
  72. ISBN 083864189X
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  73. ^ "Places to visit: Furnished Historic House". National Trust for Scotland. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  74. ^ F. Arfin, "English Heritage, Historic Scotland and The National Trusts: Looking After the UK's Historic Treasures" Archived 4 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, About.com, retrieved 9 February 2013.
  75. ISBN 1-84176-962-2
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  76. ^ "List of Properties in Care". Historic Scotland. pp. 220–226. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  77. ^ "Scotland". Landmark Trust. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
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