North facade, detail of clock tower from north. Digital image of D 68497/cn

Description North facade, detail of clock tower from north. Digital image of D 68497/cn

Date 13/6/2000

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

Catalogue Number SC 764739

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 68497 CN

Scope and Content Detail of Clock-Tower, North Front, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway This magnificent pink sandstone clock-tower rises above the entrance porch on the north front. The two lower storeys, set between tall, fluted Corinthian pilasters, contain a blind arch which frames the upper window. Carved swags and bunches of fruit under the window enclose a cartouche, and a semicircular pediment filled by a huge family coat-of-arms rises up from the frieze. The octagonal clock-turret, which has a square wooden dial bearing the date '1686', is topped by a domed lead roof encircled by a ducal coronet. The intricate carvings which adorn this grand entrance front were executed by two Dutch masons, Peter Paul Boyse and Cornelius Van Nerven. Everywhere there appears the symbol of the winged heart surmounted by a crown - within the triangular pediments above the windows, and within the huge Queensberry family crest which adorns the tower. Its origins date from the 14th century when the 1st Duke's ancestor, Sir James Douglas, 'The Good' or 'Black' Douglas was entrusted to carry the heart of King Robert Bruce to the Holy Land for burial. Sir James, unfortunately, was killed in Spain en route to Jerusalem, but before he died is said to have hurled the heart forward with the cry 'Forward, brave heart!'. From that time, the Douglas crest became a winged heart surmounted by Bruce's crown. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, stands within extensive parkland amongst the 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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