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View of castle from terrace to South. Digital image of D 46995/cn

SC 764705

Description View of castle from terrace to South. Digital image of D 46995/cn

Date 26/4/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 764705

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 46995 CN

Scope and Content South Front, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway The castle is very similar in plan to George Heriot's Hospital (now School), Edinburgh. It is built of pinkish local sandstone and constructed around an open inner courtyard, with a five-storeyed, rectangular tower at each outer corner. The towers, carried one storey higher than the main range, have balustraded flat lead roofs with pepperpot turrets arising from the corners. The south front is rather severe, and its focal point is a central pedimented Doric doorpiece at the head of a double stair leading to the garden. The stair, with an elaborate 17th-century wrought-iron balustrade, has a landing supported by Tuscan columns. The single stairs to the east (right) and west (left), also with elaborate wrought ironwork, are mid-19th-century additions. The south front contains the principal apartments. When the house was built, the first floor was intended for the duke's occupation and contained his dining room, drawing room and bedchamber. The floor above was the principal floor or the 17th-century 'piano nobile', containing a great sweep of state apartments (the longer windows were designed to indicate its status), used to entertain visiting royalty. The windows commanded fine views over the gardens below the terrace which were laid out as a parterre or formally arranged flower-beds within the lawn. These geometrically-shaped beds were arranged around a central white marble vase (centre), richly carved with foliage and grotesque human heads, and the intricate patterns could only be fully appreciated from the upper windows of the house. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, stands on a terraced platform 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/764705

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap

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