View of main staircase at first-floor level

Description View of main staircase at first-floor level

Date 11/1961

Collection Records of the Scottish National Buildings Record, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number DF 273

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 767383

Scope and Content Staircase Gallery, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway This magnificent oak staircase gallery, with a balustrade of simple twisted 'barley sugar' balusters, was completed in 1697. The walls, lined to half-height in oak, are adorned with 18th-century giltwood candle scones, and hung with paintings. The full-length portraits at eye-level are mainly by the artist, Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), and include King William III (centre) and, his wife, Queen Mary (right). The paintings above the panelling include noted works by 16th- and 17th-century artists. The elaborate silver chandelier that hangs over the stair well dates from c.1670, and has 16 candleholders shaped as dolphins or mermaids. The staircase gallery led to the 17th-century state apartments (left), a sweep of great interconnecting rooms that ran the length of the south wing of the house and were theoretically reserved for the king or his representative. The first room on the circuit was the state dining room (now the drawing room), the principal dining room used for entertaining on a lavish scale and the focal point for fashionable society. This, in turn, led to the drawing room (now the ante-room), and the state bedchamber in the south-west corner. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, was built between 1679 and 1690 for William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, on the site of a late 14th-century Douglas stronghold. The castle passed to the Dukes of Buccleuch in 1810, and is now the home of the 9th Duke (11th Duke of Queensberry). It houses many great family treasures and works of art, including fine carvings and an important collection of paintings. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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