Kitchen, rotary spit above East fireplace, detail Digital image of D/12691

Description Kitchen, rotary spit above East fireplace, detail Digital image of D/12691

Date 18/4/1997

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

Catalogue Number SC 759619

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 12691

Scope and Content Rotary spit, former kitchen, Newhailes, Musselburgh, East Lothian This shows a rotary spit that was connected to a smoke vane (fan) in the chimney flue. The heat from the fire in the range below moved the vane which turned the spit through a series of cogs. The faster the fire burnt the quicker the spit rotated. There was originally a range in the fireplace behind this spit. The main features of a kitchen range were an open fire, oven and hot-water boiler. Joseph Langmead devised a range with these features in 1783 by developing the London ironmonger Thomas Robinson's 1780 patent of a combined kitchen grate and iron oven. James Smith (c.1645-1731) architect, designed and built Newhailes House (originally known as Whitehill) in 1686. Sir David Dalrymple (c.1665-1721) bought the estate in 1709 and started the construction of the library wing in 1718 which was completed after his death in 1721 by his son, Sir James Dalrymple (1692-1751). The house was modernised in 1871-3 when Lord Shand was tenant, and has remained largely unchanged since. The National Trust for Scotland became the owners of Newhailes House in January 1997. The house opened to the public on 1 June 2002 after a £12.7 million conservation project that ensured the house was stabilised without losing the patination of the interior decoration. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/759619

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap