Arniston House

Driveway to Arniston House

Arniston House is a Palladian- style mansion near the Scottish village of Gorebridge in the Midlothian Council Area . In 1971 the building was included in the Scottish List of Monuments in the highest category A. In addition, a total of 33 outbuildings are independently classified as monuments of categories A, B or C. The entire property is on the Scottish Landscaping Register . In three out of six categories the highest rating “outstanding” was given.

history

Until 1309 the lands of Arniston belonged to the possessions of the Knights Templar . After these increasingly came into the crosshairs of the Inquisition , Arniston went to the Order of Malta . In the course of the Scottish Reformation , the lands fell to the Scottish Crown. It was James Sandilands, 1st Lord Torphichen who acquired Arniston from Queen Mary Queen of Scots . Sandilands divided the property, with George Dundas buying the largest part in 1571, on which Arniston House would later be built. Dundas developed the land that was then crossed by the major roads from Edinburgh to the south. Its course essentially corresponds to today's A7 , which today limits the property to the east.

The first mansion at this location was built by George Dundas' descendant James Dundas around 1620. After his death in 1628, the property fell to his son James Dundas , who was made the first Lord Arniston in 1650 . When his son Robert Dundas, 2nd Lord Arniston inherited the lands in 1679, he lived in Holland . Ten years later he began developing Arniston. His actions were shaped by Dutch influences. For example, he had 30 beech trees and one elm planted. In 1725, the Scottish architect William Adam was commissioned to plan a mansion into which the existing structure was to be integrated. Adam was busy building the nearby Mavisbank House at the time . Work began the following year, in which Robert Dundas died and the property passed to his son, also named Robert . The main components of today's Arniston House were built by 1732. Another construction phase, in which essentially extensions were added, took place between 1754 and 1758. William Adam's son John provided the designs . The landscaping plans submitted in 1791 were only partially implemented.

Arniston House has been family-owned since the 17th century. From the 19th century, several minor changes were made to the building. A clearer development occurred in the design of the lands. The first railway viaduct built along the later Waverley Line in 1831, the predecessor of today's Lothianbridge Viaduct , limits the property to the northeast. The Marquess of Lothian probably paid for the construction costs of the bridge, which was important for connecting the coal mines to the rail network . In the 1950s, the dining room and salon fell victim to brown rot . The latter was restored in the 1990s. Various outbuildings are now rented out as holiday homes.

Arniston House

The mansion is located in the middle of a spacious property. This borders in the northeast to the village of Gorebridge, extends in the west to Carrington and in the south to Temple . In the northwest the lands of Dalhousie Castle are directly adjacent . The South Esk flows through the property around 200 m west of the main house .

Arniston House is designed in the Palladian style. The three-story corps de logis is nine axes wide, which are arranged in the scheme 2–5–2. A one-story porch with the main portal protrudes in the middle. Tuscan columns with an open triangular gable flank the arched portal . This motif is taken up on the main facade behind, on which four Tuscan pilasters carry another triangular gable, which partially hides the platform roof behind with a surrounding balustrade . Elongated, upstream pavilions flank the Corps de Logis. They are connected to this via an angled curtain wall. Originally the facades of the manor house were plastered with Harl . The Harl has since been removed so that the sandstone masonry is exposed.

grotto

Arniston House Grotto is independently classified as a Category A Memorial. It is located around 300 m southwest of the mansion on the Purvies Hill Burn stream . It probably dates from the mid-18th century and was possibly designed by William Adam. There is a possibility that stone material was later integrated, which was incurred in the course of the redesign of the Parliament building in Edinburgh in 1803. The asymmetrical structure consists partly of uncut stone. Various wall niches are lined up as round arches with keystones . On the left is a tunnel with a vaulted ceiling .

North Lodge

The North Lodge is located off the A7 on the northeastern edge of the property near Gorebridge. It is a two-story building flanking an access road beyond a gate. The layered masonry of the lodges, which were built around 1790, consists of stone blocks. The small buildings are asymmetrically designed and pilasters friezes . The northern building is decorated with an elephant figure, the southern one with a lion figure. The animals symbolize the family Dundas (lion) and the family of his wife, a born Oliphant . A wrought iron gate from the late 19th century is located between the buildings . The North Lodge is a Category A.

Gardens

Not far from the grotto, on the B6372 road over the property, are the gardens of Arniston House. A quarry stone wall made of sandstone surrounds the almost rectangular area. Work on this structure began around 1764 according to plans by John Adam. However, a major redesign was carried out at the beginning of the 19th century. As with the grotto, material that was no longer required from the overhaul of the Parliament building in Edinburgh was installed there. So wearing a segment gable on the loggia the royal initials Charles I . and could be from Edinburgh. The loggia is designed with Doric columns. Greenhouses and simple sheds for growing plants along the wall can be found on the site. Wrought iron gates block the entrances to the gardens, one of which is designed with a segmented arch. The gardens are classified as the fourth building on the property in monument category A.