Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016179
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016179
The estate ofMellerstain is mentioned as early as 1451-owned by the Haliburtons, later by the Haitlies. In 1642 it passed into the hands of the Baillies. George Baillie of Jerviswood was the son of a wealthy Edinburgh merchant and though the estates were forfeited in 1684 on account of the Covenanting zeal of his son Robert, they were restored in 1691. Robert's son George married Grizell Hume, renowned for her 'Household Book' in which, as mistress and manager of the household, she recorded what has survived as a unique social document of the time. They began the rebuilding ofMellerstain in 1725 to replace "ane old melancholick hous that had had great buildings about it" in 1639, and the two wings were completed to the design ofWilliam Adam.
The present house is largely the creation of the next George Baillie. After his Grand Tour of Europe in 1740-44, he returned fired with enthusiasm for truly classical dimension to Mellerstain, and in addition to commissioning Robert Adam he seems to have worked on many of the plans himself. The house exhibits a strong central projection to the north; it is contrastingly flat to the south where it overlooks the Italian-style terraced gardens laid out in 1909 by Sir Reginald Blomfield. It is one of the earlier 'Adam castles' seen by some as "rather lifeless and box-like".
If Hopetoun's interiors (no. 30) are amongst the most palatial and ornate of 18th century Scotland, those at Mellerstain are perhaps the most beautiful and refined-with particularly attractive ceilings and friezes in the library, music room and drawing room. The latter, decorated with griffins and vases, is dated 1778 and must be one of the last completed; the first, dated 1770, incorporates a circular oil-painting of Minerva, flanked by representations of 'Teaching' and 'Learning'. Preserved in the original colours they could be mistaken for pieces of Wedge wood porcelain! The ceiling in the Great Gallery, by contrast, was never completed-though the architect's drawings of 1775 along with the end colonnades, friezes, tracery and (plain) barrel roof give an idea at least of what might have been.
In 1717 the Baillies were linked in marriage to the Earls of Haddington. The etates remain linked and Mellerstain has become the residence of the heir to the earldom.
Information from 'Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Lothian and Borders', (1985).
