Interior. Digital image of detail of mermaid motif on the ceiling of the first floor dining room.

Description Interior. Digital image of detail of mermaid motif on the ceiling of the first floor dining room.

Date 5/1995

Catalogue Number SC 772410

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 54127

Scope and Content Detail of dining room ceiling, Newbattle Abbey House, Midlothian This shows part of the early 17th-century plasterwork ceiling in the dining room, which is divided into panels filled with applied moulded motifs. This panel shows a mermaid with a cartouche surrounded by foliage suspended from a ring. This richly-decorated plasterwork ceiling is in the dining room of the house. The lavish decorative treatment reflects the fact that this room was used for entertaining, and was decorated to impress visiting guests during lengthy formal dinners. 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/772410

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap