Publication Account
Date 1951
Event ID 1095915
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1095915
174. Cramond House.
This mansion is a composite structure and on plan resembles the letter H, the parallel limbs running N. and S. and the central part E. and W. The central part, of three main storeys built of harled rubble with exposed back-set and chamfered dressings, is substantially the house built by John Inglis of Cramond about 1680, shortly before his death. This nucleus was refashioned internally by Sir John Inglis who died in 1771 and was succeeded by his brother, Sir Adam Inglis. Sir Adam is credited with the addition of the W. wing in 1772 (1),the year in which he died. This wing, also containing three main-storeys and built of harled rubble, has a central circular bay projecting to the W. Some twenty years after the extension was made a parallel wing was added to the E. end of the original house. Built of droved ashlar, this last extension has only two storeys, the upper one very lofty. Its E. side is the entrance front, in which the central part asset forward and is surmounted by a pediment. In the tympanum is carved the Inglis crest, a demilion issuing from a wreath and holding a mullet in the right paw. The entrance has a moulded doorpiece approached by a perron which crosses a sunk area; the windows on either side of the entrance, like those in the adjoining gables, are tall and have semi-circular heads with keystones. The basement windows have back-set margins.
The entrance opens into a large and lofty central hall. This has a coved ceiling, a reeded and banded frieze and an enriched cornice. On the N. is a massive stone mantelpiece with bold semi-shafts. The hall gives access to a room at each side, also large and equally lofty. The room to the S. is the drawing-room. This is lit by one window facing S. and three facing E. On the W. is a large gre m arble mantelpiece with a bold bolection-moulding surmounted by a shelf. The walls have dado panelling and an enriched frieze and cornice. The dining-room on the N. of the hall is almost identical, but the frieze is not enriched and the monumental mantelpiece is of black marble. The hall also gives access on the W. to the staircase, lit by a cupola and containing a stone stair with flat balusters of oak carved in relief with conventional foliage and surmounted by a mahogany rail. Beyond the staircase lies the earliest part of the house, in which a central passage runs W. on each floor to communicate with the W. wing. Although a central passage is unusual in 17th-century plans, this passage may nevertheless be an original provision since on the first floor it contains two 17th-century doorways side by side. These have back-set and chamfered margins and they do not seem to have been disturbed. The two bold contemporary corbels nearby, one on either side of the passage, are not, however, necessarily in their original positions. Apart from these features nothing of particular interest is to be seen either in the original house or in the W. wing.
SUNDIAL. There is an interesting sundial on the carriage-sweep before the entrance. This has been fully recorded elsewhere (2) and it is enough to say here that the relic is of the multi-dialled type and is supported by a square baluster-shaft. On one of the S. dial-faces the date 1732 is still visible. But fifty years ago the name SIR ROB DICKSON could also be seen below it, while the inscription ARCH. HANDASYDE FECIT was then legible on the corresponding N. dial. These facts suggest that the sundial came originally from lnveresk, as Sir Robert Dickson, who died in 1760, was laird of lnveresk and Handasyde was a mason in Musselburgh. Before coming to Cramond the sundial is said (3) to have stood on the adjoining property of Lauriston.
RCAHMS 1951, visited c. 1941
(1) Wood, The ancient and modern state of the parish of Cramond, p. 44. (2) P.S.A.S., xxiv (1889-90), pp. 232-4. 3 lbid.
