General view, renaissance front in ruinous condition

Description General view, renaissance front in ruinous condition

Date 1889

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 739305

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of F 1904

Scope and Content Craighall Castle, Fife (now demolished) Craighall Castle, an early 17th-century mansion to the south-east of Ceres, was built for Sir Thomas Hope, and altered and enlarged in 1697-9 to designs by Sir William Bruce. By the 19th century it had become ruinous, with only the south front remaining, and was finally demolished in 1955. The house was photographed c.1889 by the Scottish photographer, Erskine Beveridge. The recessed south front has a channelled ashlar lower section with a central arched doorway flanked by square windows. Above are two arcades of three arches, the upper ones closed by balustrades, and the whole front is topped by a segmental pediment with a cartouche. On either side are rubble-built projections, originally topped by balustrades, little of which survives. The east wing (right) has turrets corbelled out in the south angles. Sir Thomas Hope, 1st Baronet of Craighall, was Lord Advocate of Scotland from 1626 until his death in 1646. Described as 'one of the most learned and best experienced' of the Scottish advocates, he became hugely successful, and with the profits of his practice bought estates in Fife, Stirlingshire, Midlothian, Haddington and Berwickshire. Two of his four sons became lawyers, a third became a judge, and one was made 'cupbearer' to King Charles I. Sir Thomas Bruce Hope, 6th Baronet, sold Craighall in 1729. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap