Interior Detail of chimneypiece in ground floor Servant's Hall Digital image of SU/786
SC 772664
Description Interior Detail of chimneypiece in ground floor Servant's Hall Digital image of SU/786
Date 1982
Catalogue Number SC 772664
Category On-line Digital Images
Copy of SU 786
Scope and Content Chimneypiece in the servants' hall, Skibo Castle, Highland This shows the chimneypiece in the servants' hall. Above the grate there is a shelf supported by two corbels on which a decorative plate sits. Beneath the shelf there is a carved central rosette in between the date 1901 with crosses at each side. The outer arch of the fireplace is supported on two corbels. The room is wood panelled to dado level and the floor is covered in patterned linoleum. The servants' hall is where the lower servants (housemaids and footmen) would have eaten their meals. Servants in Victorian country houses tended to have breakfast at 8am in the summer (8.30am in the winter), lunch at 11am, dinner at 1pm, tea between 4pm and 5pm and supper between 8pm and 9pm. The upper servants (housekeeper and butler) probably only attended dinner, which was the main meal of the day. They were more likely to have eaten their meals in the housekeeper's room or other separate room away from the lower servants. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Scotland and made a fortune in the steel industry in the United States of America. Once his daughter was born he decided that she should have a Scottish home, and at the end of the 19th century he bought a large Baronial house at Skibo built in 1880 by Clarke & Bell. In addition to the £85,000 purchase price, he spent a further £2 million in the creation of an even larger mansion, constructed between 1899 and 1903 to the designs of Ross & Macbeth. In 1981 his daughter Margaret decided to sell the estate, and the castle lay empty until 1990 when Peter de Savary paid £10 million for the castle and the 2,832-hectare estate. Some £30 million was then invested in its transformation into the Carnegie Club, a private residential golf and sporting club. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
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