General view of basement chapel in Newbattle Abbey House, including the parquet floor laid to reproduce the pattern of the original medieval tiles by estate carpenter John Ramsay.

Description General view of basement chapel in Newbattle Abbey House, including the parquet floor laid to reproduce the pattern of the original medieval tiles by estate carpenter John Ramsay.

Date 5/1995

Catalogue Number SC 772375

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 54037 CN

Scope and Content Chapel from south, Newbattle Abbey House, Midlothian This shows the barrel-vaulted basement chapel with its carved woodwork altar and screen, and intricate parquet floor. This room was originally the warming room, or 'calefactory' of the monastery in the 13th century. It was restored by the 9th Marquess, Schomberg Henry, and consecrated for his funeral in 1900. Excavations between 1878 and 1895 in this area discovered a selection of fine medieval floor tiles. These are now in the Royal Museum of Scotland and Melrose Abbey Museum. They were replaced by a parquet floor made of woods from the estate laid in patterns to simulate the original floor. The design was executed in two years by the abbey's master of works, John Ramsay, using 13,226 pieces of yew, oak, maple, plane and laburnum wood. Newbattle Abbey was founded by Cistercian monks in 1140, and its church dedicated to St Mary in 1233-4. It became a private residence in 1587 when the last abbot, Mark Kerr, converted to Protestantism and was able to retain his lands. His son became Lord Newbattle in 1596. The remains of the abbey are built into the surviving house, which was modified and rebuilt by the architects John Mylne (1650), William Burn (1836) and David Bryce (1858). The house was gifted to the nation in 1937 to be used as a further education college. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/772375

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap