Detail of parquet floor in basement chapel, laid to reproduce the pattern of the original medieval tiles by estate carpenter John Ramsay. Digital image of C 54094 CN.

Description Detail of parquet floor in basement chapel, laid to reproduce the pattern of the original medieval tiles by estate carpenter John Ramsay. Digital image of C 54094 CN.

Date 5/1995

Catalogue Number SC 772377

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 54094 CN

Scope and Content Detail of parquet floor in chapel, Newbattle Abbey House, Midlothian This shows part of the parquet floor laid in the chapel in the late 19th century by the Lothian family's Clerk of Works, John Ramsay. He used 13,226 pieces of yew, oak, maple, plane and laburnum wood from the estate, and took two years to complete the task. The design echoes that of a medieval tiled floor which was discovered here during excavations between 1878 and 1895. This floor is in the room which was originally the 'calefactory' or warming room of the monastery in the 13th century. It was restored by the 9th Marquess, Schomberg Henry as a private chapel, and consecrated for his funeral in 1900. Since then it has also been used for the weddings of former students of the college. 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/772377

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap