Lennoxlove House
Lennoxlove House | |
---|---|
![]() Lennoxlove, with the original tower house of Lethington in the foreground | |
Coordinates | 55°56′20″N 2°46′40″W / 55.9389°N 2.7778°W |
Listed Building – Category A | |
Official name | Lennoxlove House or Lethington |
Designated | 5 February 1971 |
Reference no. | LB10814 |
Official name | Lennoxlove (Lethington) |
Criteria | Historical Architectural |
Designated | 1 July 1987 |
Reference no. | GDL00259 |
Lennoxlove House is a historic house set in woodlands half a mile south of Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. The house comprises a 15th-century tower, originally known as Lethington Castle, and has been extended several times, principally in the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries. The house is protected as a category A listed building, and is described by Historic Scotland as "one of Scotland's most ancient and notable houses."[1] The wooded estate is included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.[2]
It is now the seat of the
History
The lands of Lethington were acquired by Robert Maitland of Thirlestane in 1345. The Maitland family constructed the earliest part of the building, the
In 1674, Lennoxlove is said to have been the first Scottish estate to practice
The coach house was built around 1676, to designs by
Lennoxlove
The property was purchased by the trustees of
Lennoxlove is now the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, having been purchased by the 14th Duke in 1946. It is open to the public during the summer, accommodates corporate events and weddings, and can be rented privately by groups.
Lennoxlove Book Festival
This festival was started in November 2009, and it is being continued in November 2010.[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Lethington2.jpg/280px-Lethington2.jpg)
Art collection
Lennoxlove is home to one of Scotland's most important collections of portraits, including works by
The very rare and important 17-piece Lennoxlove
In literature
Pamela M. King has attributed the poem Lethington (No. 68 in the 'Maitland Quarto') to Marie Maitland (c.1550 - 1596). She suggests that, as one of Sir Richard's younger children, Marie could still have been living at Lethington Castle, the family home, when it was confiscated in 1571 following her brother William's arraignment for treason, and that the poem is a response to that experience.[8] Joanna Martin has identified Lethington as being one of the earliest of the 'country house' genre of poems.[9]
Marie's brother Thomas Maitland wrote a poem in Latin in praise of Lethington, Domus Ledintona, published in Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum (1637).[8]
References
- ^ a b c Historic Environment Scotland. "LENNOXLOVE HOUSE OR LETHINGTON (Category A Listed Building) (LB10814)". Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "LENNOXLOVE (LETHINGTON) (GDL00259)". Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 82.
- ^ Scottish Garden Buildings by Tim Buxbaum p.11
- ^ Yorke, Philip Chesney (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). pp. 279–280. .
- ^ Charles Wemyss, Noble House of Scotland (Prestel Verlag, 2014), p. 134.
- ^ "The Lennoxlove service". National Museum of Scotland. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-908980-39-7
- ISBN 978-1-4438-4481-9