Publication Account

Date 1951

Event ID 1096064

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1096064

RCAHMS County Inventory: The City of Edinburgh

189. Dreghorn Castle, Colinton.

The estate of Dreghorn, situated on the N. slopes of the Pentland Hills, was once owned by Sir William Murray, Master of Works to Charles II, and at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries by David Pitcairn, Writer in Edinburgh, who died in 1709. Passing through several hands, in 1763-4 it came into the possession of John MacLaurin, Lord Dreghorn; and in 1797, a year after his death, it was bought by Alexander Trotter, a paymaster in the Royal Navy. The large castellated mansion house assumed its present appearance at Trotter's hands some time between 1797 and 1862, probably about 1820; but the part of the N. front that is two storeys and an attic in height may date back to Pitcairn's time. If that is the case, however, this nucleus must have been remodelled by Lord Dreghorn, and again by his successor. It contains a low-ceiled room on the first floor, in which the several doors have heavily carved panel-moulds and door heads; the fireplace has a heavy bolection moulding of marble. The adjoining room on the W. has a fine marble mantelpiece with caryatid figures and, on the frieze, a sculptured panel. Some of the other apartments contain equally good marble mantelpieces, and the dining-room has a good enriched ceiling. These finishings were probably introduced by Paymaster Trotter, as they are all similar in style; moreover, the existing alcove in the dining-room can hardly be the one that Lord Dreghorn made the subject of a poem (1).

RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941

(1) The Works of the late John MacLaurin, Esq., of Dreghorn, i, p. 120.