Hopetoun House, interior. View of gun room in stables. Digital image of C 64183.

Description Hopetoun House, interior. View of gun room in stables. Digital image of C 64183.

Date 23/11/1995

Catalogue Number SC 767051

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 64183

Scope and Content Gun room, Stables, Hopetoun House, West Lothian This shows the interior of the gun room, which is situated behind the colonnade next to the stable pavilion. A cupboard made from tongue-and-groove wooded planks can be seen (left), and a glass-fronted cabinet hangs on the wall (right). This room would have been used to store the many shotguns used by the landowner and his family and friends whilst on shoots within the estate grounds. The gun room stored the equipment for shooting parties, which were at the height of popularity in the late 19th century. A shoot would last all day, with guests drawing lots to decide on their positions in the field. Servants called 'beaters' would drive game birds out of hiding towards the waiting sportsmen. The ladies would stay back at the house until mid-day, when they would join the gentlemen for a picnic lunch served by the footmen. Hopetoun House, the seat of the Marquis of Linlithgow, was built 1699-1704 to designs by architect Sir William Bruce (c.1630-1710). Between 1721 and 1748 architect William Adam (1689-1748), and his sons Robert (1728-92) and John (1721-92) designed extensions to the central block, flanked by curving colonnades leading to advanced pavilions containing stables (north) and a ballroom (south). Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/767051

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap