Interior, Newbattle Abbey House. Detail of fireplace and overmantle in first floor dining room.

Description Interior, Newbattle Abbey House. Detail of fireplace and overmantle in first floor dining room.

Date 5/1995

Catalogue Number SC 772434

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 54069 CN

Scope and Content Detail of fireplace and overmantel in dining room, Newbattle Abbey House, Midlothian This shows an intricately carved wooden overmantel decorated with swags and festoons of fruits and flowers, Corinthian pilasters surmounted by the family sunburst emblem, and a central crowned monogram. The fireplace below has inset tile panels of Pre-Raphaelite maidens by William Morris & Co, and the painting above shows three gentlemen in the costumes of the early 1600s. This room contains panels of delicate woodcarvings attributed to the famous sculptor Grinling Gibbons (1648-1720). The festoons around the fireplace are in a similar style, but it is thought that these were completed by the estate carpenter at a later date in imitation of the style of the master woodcarver. 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/772434

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap