Publication Account
Date 1951
Event ID 1095661
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1095661
10. Sempill's Close, 541 Castle Hill.
The building standing at the N. end of Sempill's Close, and now connected to the Rainy Hall of the New College, has four storeys above a "laigh" floor, the upper ones entered from a projecting newel-stair. The lintel of the stair entrance bears a shield charged : A fess between three crescents in chief and a mullet in base, possibly for Rossiemont. An index hand then points to the inscription PRAISED BE THE LORD, MY / GOD, MY STRENTH, & MY REDEEMER/ ANNO DOM 1638, beyond which is a merchant’s mark to balance the shield at the other side. The entrance lintel of the house at the level of the close is inscribed, between an index hand and the same merchant's mark, SEDES MANET OPTIMACOELO ("The choicest seat remains in Heaven")1638. The entrance lintel of the lowest house bears no inscription. The masonry throughout is rubble with freestone dressings. The two lower storeys have been modernised as kitchens and sculleries in connection with the Rainy Hall, while the upper floors have been gutted. On one side of the modern corridor leading to the Hall' there is an old door lintel, inserted above a modern fireplace. It is inscribed BLISSIT BE GOD IN AL HIS GIFTIS / 1580. A second lintel is inset above the Hall door at the end of the corridor; it bears two shields with monograms, the dexter one defaced and the sinister one made up of the initials M A G I. The shields are separated by the motto LAVS HONOR DEO (" Praise and honour to God "), and are flanked by the initials I R, possibly for Jacobus Rex.
The four-storeyed rubble-built tenement on the E side of the Close, now hidden from Castle Hill by a modern building in front, also dates from the 17th century. Although it has been modernised internally, the N. house on the top floor still has vestiges of panelling and plaster cornices, as well as a bolection-moulded fireplace of stone, all evidently original.
The close takes its name from Grissel, widow of Francis, eighth Lord Sempill, who occupied one of the houses at the inner end. Cf. O.E.C., xii p. 8.
RCAHMS 1951
