Interior, basement, South East tower basement, view from North East. Digital image of D 41701

Description Interior, basement, South East tower basement, view from North East. Digital image of D 41701

Date 16/11/1998

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

Catalogue Number SC 767332

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 41701

Scope and Content Wine Cellar, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway This cellar, a vaulted room in the basement of the south-east tower, may date from the earlier mid-16th-century house. It has a stone floor and thick whitewashed walls of rough coursed rubble, and is lined on one side with wine bins which probably date from the late 19th century. Each bin, square on the face and deep enough to take two bottles of wine laid neck-to-neck, was devoted to one particular year of one particular wine. The heavy wooden door has a metal grille for ventilation, and is secured with a lock. A good wine cellar needed to be dry and of an even temperature. It was best built under the house, on the north side, and well away from the drains. Originally wine was stored in the cellar in casks, and then bottled for a short time before being drunk. After 1863, wine was exported in bottles, and brick bins were built in many cellars to replace the old racks for casks. The cellar was the domain of the butler, who kept the key and was responsible for the cellar book, a vital inventory of the wine of the house. Part of his duty was to advise the duke when stocks were running low, and even to take a connoisseur's interest in the quality of the contents of the cellar. Each morning, he would fetch the wine of the day, and prepare it by allowing it to reach room temperature if red, or bed it in ice if white. 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, 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 Master of Works (builder) was William Lukup. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/767332

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap