Blackadder House

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blackadder House around 1900

Blackadder House was a country house in the village of Allanton in the Scottish county of Berwickshire (now Scottish Borders ). It was built on the site of the former Blackadder Castle . The house was devastated by troops during World War I and, as there was no money to repair it, it was demolished around 1925.

Early history of the property

The Blackadder family was an integral part of the constant disputes in the region and, without regard to others, enlarged their lands through gifts from King James II. These gifts were made by the King as a reward for repulsing British raids with great effort. The Blackadders' lands on the English border fell to the Home family (now Home-Robertson ) by marriage ; Beatrix Blackadder and her younger sister, the sole heir of their father Andrew , married younger sons of the Homes of Wedderburn in 1518 ( Wedderburn Castle is still in the hands of one of their descendants, Georgina Home-Robertson ).

According to Anderson , this was achieved in the following way: Andrew Blackadder followed the standard of William Douglas of Glenbervie in the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513 and fell together with 200 men from this family in this terrible battle, in which he had a widow and two underage daughters, Beatrix and Margaret , left behind. The Homes of Wedderburn took advantage of the unprotected status of Robert's daughters by annexing the Blackadders' lands. They began by eliminating anyone within their reach whom they feared as an obstacle to inheritance. They attacked and murdered Robert Blackadder , the prior of Coldingham . His brother, the dean of Dunblane , met the same fate. Several others were eliminated in the same manner.

Now they attacked Blackadder Castle (which was somewhere on land that is now the Blackadder Mains and which was destroyed in the early 16th century during the British invasion of Scotland under the command of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk ), in where the widow and her two young daughters lived.

The garrison refused to give up, but the Homes were able to conquer the fortress, got hold of the widow and her children and forced them to marry. The two daughters were married to their two younger sons, John and Robert , in 1518 and, since they were only 8 years old, were imprisoned in Blackadder Castle until they were of legal age.

Whatever the truth of this story, the possession of these lands was challenged by a family cousin, Sir John Blackadder , owner of the Tulliallan lands . Sir John called Parliament, but, as was the custom at the time, the matter was finally settled at the bare gun. Sir John Blackadder was beheaded in March 1531 for the murder of the Abbot of Culross , whom he had killed in a dispute over land. He was followed in the barony of Tulliallan by his brother Patrick , who rewarmed the dispute against the homes over the family's lands. Anderson again charged the Homes with treason in the story surrounding Patrick's murder in an ambush near Edinburgh , where he was supposed to meet the Homes to resolve the dispute.

The Blackadders then renounced their claims to the lands on the border with England and Sir John Home was appointed Baronet of Blackadder in 1671 . The Homes owned the property until 1836 when it was sold to the Houston family (later Houston-Boswell ). In 1857 Sir George AFH Boswell was the owner of the property.

Blackadder House

Blackadder North Lodge during restoration in 2007

The original Peel Tower presumably remained relatively unchanged until the mid-18th century. It was around this time that the architect James Playfair drew up plans to completely rebuild and remodel the previous building, but they never came to fruition. Later Robert Adam drew other plans, which were then implemented. In 1842 the house was described as an elegant, modern building with extensive bushes, greenhouses in a wonderful, Gothic glass house.

A description from 1845 particularly highlighted the glass house, which had the shape of a Gothic chapel with a frame made entirely of cast iron and some of the panes as stained glass windows. The later owner, Thomas Boswell , had the glass house erected for a few thousand pounds. An article in a magazine from 1848 once again mentioned the glass house, which must have been the most striking detail of the house. Lady Houston was given as the owner .

In 1853 the architect John Lessels expanded the house by adding balustrades to the terraces and adding a large, asymmetrical wing. The result was a great, classic Palladian style house. The house has been described as "The Home of the Stately Home". It was probably the first house in Berwickshire to have an electrical connection. Remains of the original power station have been preserved to this day.

The gardens suffered badly from the severe frosts in the winter of 1879/1880, when temperatures as low as −31 ° C were measured. Lady Boswell's family had planted peach trees 50 years earlier, which froze to the roots, as did apricot and other fruit trees. A European yew that was planted in Lady Boswell's year of birth also died, as did many oaks . The frost was genuine laurel , Portuguese cherry laurel , rhododendron , holly and other smaller trees die.

During the First World War , the government requisitioned the country house as a barracks. The troops devastated the building by z. B. used parts of the staircase balusters as firewood. The post-war government refused to pay to restore the house and with the agricultural depression it was abandoned. It was demolished around 1925.

today

A pair of lodges with convex facades ( Lydd Lodge and Westside Cottage ) that show the entrance to the former Blackadder House still stand on Allanton's main street . Blackadder Mains ' farm , Blackadder Bank , Blackadder West, and Blackadder Mount , as well as the nearby village of Allanton, were all originally on the Blackadder House estate.

The house no longer exists, but there are impressive ruins that are worth a stroll around the property. Little more has been preserved of the country house than a stone balustrade that was carved into the rock of the cliff above the Blackadder River at the rear of the house, below ground level. A forest has been planted where the house was. The remains of the hydroelectric power station can still be seen below the passage, on the bank of the river.

Other outbuildings of the property were also preserved. The Blackadder Cottage (also Butler's House ) with an impressive pair of lions on its parapet is on the high banks of Blackadder Water . Allanbank Courtyard is a U-shaped facility that was started around 1780. There is also an enclosed garden with a summer house and several bridges over Blackadder Water . Impressive stables with a tower and obelisk-like spire survived the destruction of the house. They are attributed to the architect Alexander Boswell and were built in 1785.

  • Allanton Main Street and Post Office

  • Farmhouses in Blackadder Mount

  • Barley in Blackadder Mount

  • Blackadder Bridge at Allenton

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Blackadder House . Dunse History Society. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  2. ^ Sutherland and Knox: Noblemen and Gentlemen's Seats, Villages . P. 19, 1857. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  3. ^ A b Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy: The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Linlithgow, Haddington Berwick . W. Blackwood and Sons. 1845. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  4. ^ William Tait, Christian Isobel Johnstone: Scottish Rivers . In: Tait's Edinburgh magazine . W. Tait. P. 40, 1848. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  5. ^ Charles Stuart: History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, instituted September 22, 1831 . The Club. P. 307, 1882. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  6. ↑ Alan Hall: Border pubs and inns . Cicerone Press Limited. S. 69. 1994. Retrieved March 9, 2017.

swell

  • Ian Borthwick Cowan: The Parishes of Medieval Scotland . Scottish Record Society, Edinburgh 1967.
  • G. Ewart: Allenbank House, Scottish Borders (Edrom Parish), Monitoring in Discovery and Excavation in Scotland . Issue 9. Cathedral Communications Ltd., Wiltshire 2008. p. 157.
  • J. Ferguson: Notices of the Remains and Pre-Reformation Churches, etc. in Berwickshire . Alnwick, 1892.
  • Charles Alexander Strang: Borders and Berwick: An Illustrated Architectural Guide to the Scottish Borders and Tweed Valley . Rutland Press, Edinburgh 1994. ISBN 1-873190-10-7 . P. 39.

Web links

Coordinates: 55 ° 46 ′ 46.6 "  N , 2 ° 13 ′ 49.5"  W.