Amisfield House

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Amisfield House was a mansion near the Scottish town of Haddington in the East Lothian council area . The building was demolished around 1928, but numerous outbuildings still exist, 15 of which are classified as monuments. The gardens, which were included in the Scottish list of monuments in the highest category A in 1971, deserve special mention . The property is not to be confused with the Amisfield Tower in Dumfries and Galloway .

history

From the 12th century onwards, the lands belonged to the Cistercian convent of Haddington ( Nunnery of Haddington ). In the early 18th century, the notorious gambler and bon vivant Francis Charteris bought the property and renamed it from Newmills to Amisfield after his ancestral home in Dumfriesshire . His daughter, Janet, married James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss . Her second son Francis Wemyss Charteris , who later became the seventh Earl of Wemyss , inherited Amisfield after the death of Francis Charteris in 1732. During the Second Jacobite Uprising , the military used the Amisfield parks.

Wemyss Charteris built the nucleus of Amisfield House around 1755. For this he hired the English architect Isaac Ware , who created a mansion in the Palladian style, which was counted among the most important examples of this style in Scotland. In 1785 the mansion was extended to a design by the architect John Henderson . As during the Jacobite uprisings, the property was also used by the military during the coalition wars. A military post was also located in Amisfield House during the First World War . In 1928 the red sandstone building was canceled. The stone material recovered was partially reused. Among other things, to build a school in Prestonpans , a hospital in Haddington and a golf club home in Longniddry .

From 1833 the Tyneside Games were held on the property . In 1865 the Haddington Golf Club was founded and parts of the park were converted into a golf course. The golf course still exists today. The parks served as a military camp during World War II . The modern clubhouse is located on the Amisfield House site.

Gardens

Pavilion on the outer wall
Entrance area of ​​a pavilion

The gardens are 300 meters east of the former manor house. They come from a design by John Henderson in 1786. At most, the five meter high enclosing walls are of an older date. The 3.24  hectare complex is built strictly according to a classicist pattern with a square floor plan. Round pavilions , which once closed with domes, are set up at the four corners . The entrances are designed with classical porticos with Doric columns, architraves , friezes and cornices . The southeast pavilion was used as a pigeon tower by the middle of the 19th century at the latest . A pheasantry was probably set up in the southwest pavilion later . There was a greenhouse on the north side. Its hypocaust was first carried out by flowing pipes, later by cast iron pipes.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b c Entry in the Gazetteer for Scotland
  3. ↑ Amsfield in: FH Groome (ed.): Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical , Grange Publishing, Edinburgh, 1882–1885.
  4. ↑ Entry on Amisfield House  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
  5. ↑ Entry on Amisfield Park  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)

Web links

Commons : Gardens of Amisfield House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 55 ° 57 ′ 29.6 "  N , 2 ° 45 ′ 23.2"  W.