Interior, principal floor, front hall, detail of wallpaper.

Description Interior, principal floor, front hall, detail of wallpaper.

Date 16/11/1998

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number D 41623 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 764678

Scope and Content Detail of Wall Hangings in Front Hall, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway This gilded leather wall hanging, stamped with the Douglas emblem, a winged heart surmounted by a crown, dates from the 17th century. It may have originally have hung in the duke's ground-floor drawing room in the south wing of the castle, and been moved to its present position sometime after 1813 when the room was converted from an arcaded gallery, open on one side to the courtyard. The winged heart appears everywhere at Drumlanrig - in stone, lead, iron, wood, leather and carpeting. Its origins are founded in the story of Sir James Douglas, 'The Good' or 'Black' Douglas who was one of the foremost supporters of Robert Bruce, King of Scots in the early 14th century. When Bruce died in 1329 before going on crusade to the Holy Land, Sir James was entrusted to carry the king's heart to Jerusalem for burial. Douglas, unfortunately, was killed in Spain in 1330 before he reached the Holy Land, but before he died is said to have hurled the royal heart, contained in a silver casket, before him with the epic cry 'Forward, brave heart!'. From that time the Douglas motto became 'Forward' and the family crest, a winged heart surmounted by Bruce's crown. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, was built between 1679 and 1690 for William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, on the site of a late 14th-century Douglas stronghold. The castle passed to the Dukes of Buccleuch in 1810, and is now the home of the 9th Duke (11th Duke of Queensberry). It houses many great family treasures and important works of art, including magnificent carvings and a fine collection of paintings. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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