Aerial view of Drumlanrig Castle Digital image of A 69362/cn

Description Aerial view of Drumlanrig Castle Digital image of A 69362/cn

Date 1984

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number SC 764667

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 69362 CN

Scope and Content Aerial view of Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway The castle, built of pinkish local sandstone, is quadrangular and very similar in plan to George Heriot's Hospital (now School), Edinburgh. It is constructed around an open inner courtyard, with a circular staircase turret at each corner of the courtyard, and a rectangular tower at each outer corner. The main approach, at the end of a great avenue, is through a long forecourt on the north side (left), with square, early 18th-century pavilions on either side at the entrance. From the pavilions, low, 19th-century service wings, probably by the architect, William Burn, run back to a second pair of early 18th-century pavilions. The south front (right) gives access by means of a double stair to the gardens. Great formal gardens, begun by the 1st Duke, were laid out as a fitting complement to the house. The 1st Duke's gardening endeavours, stopped short by his death in 1695, were quickly taken up by James Douglas, 2nd Duke, who was responsible for establishing the garden framework which survives in a modified form today. To the east (top) and west (bottom) of the house are magnificent parterres, formal flower-beds laid out within the lawns and arranged around a central vase or urn. They are linked by a broad terrace to the south of the house, beyond which is another parterre. A gardener and many men were employed to maintain the gardens, which were considered amongst the most notable of their day in Scotland. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, stands on a terraced platform within extensive parkland amongst the wooded hills of Nithsdale. The mansion was built between 1679 and 1690 for William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, incorporating part of a mid-16th-century house and the remains of a late 14th-century Douglas stronghold which originally stood on the site. The architect was almost certainly James Smith who had worked on the construction of Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, and the builder was William Lukup who is buried in Durisdeer churchyard nearby. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap